Forgive and Forget
by Litanya
Summary: A belated birthday fic for Steph. It's easy to say forgive and forget, but if someone broke your heart, could you actually do it? [Taiora, Sorato, Takari]


Litanya: This fic is dedicated completely to Steph. Happy belated birthday! Your other fic is coming along too… it should be done in about… a week or so, give or take a week lol. I hope you enjoy it- its 25 930 words! I don't own Digimon, and this is one of those fics where 02 has happened, but Yama and Sora never dated and the 25 years later stuff never happened.

_**Forgive and Forget**_

Taichi Kamiya was extremely pleased with his life. He had a kind, loving family, he was pursuing a career which really interested him, he had wonderful friends, a fantastic girlfriend and he had moved out of his family apartment into a new one with his girlfriend. In short, his life was perfect. He should have known that it wouldn't last.

"Hey Koushiro, what are you doing here?" Taichi called across the university's courtyard. He was talking to eighteen year old Koushiro Izumi, his computer genius friend who was a year younger than him and still completing high school, "Are you here on an excursion or something? If you have free time, I don't have a lecture now." Koushiro was shaking his head, and he hurried his steps.

"I came because you don't have your phone on and Sora doesn't have hers on and no one was answering at your apartment and… I have some bad news for you," Taichi was impressed that his friend had refrained from using big words. Usually Koushiro wouldn't stop using words like 'prodigious' and 'endearing,' words that Taichi never fully understood. It took him a moment to process what he had said however, and then he realized that there was bad news.

"My phone was off because I was in a lecture. What's happened?" nervous butterflies seemed to be going crazy in his stomach. Koushiro took a deep breath and looked down at the ground.

"Your father had a heart attack this morning at work," Taichi gasped. It was sounding much worse than he had feared, "I'm afraid that he passed away about half an hour ago. We tried your phone but… anyway, your mother wants you to go back and meet them at your family's apartment as soon as possible." Taichi couldn't move. He had stopped paying attention as soon as he had heard that his father was dead. He hadn't called his parents for a few days, and the last time he had called had been to wish his father a happy birthday. He had just turned 46. He couldn't have died. It must be a trick.

"Sorry… my mother said what?" he finally asked when he realized that Koushiro was waiting for something. His friend jut watched him carefully and patiently.

"You need to go see your family at their home. Come on, I'll take you there myself," Koushiro gently took his arm and began to lead him out of the university, "Hikari was going to come and get you, but she kind of collapsed when she heard the news, and Takeru wanted to stay with her. We couldn't get through to Sora or Yama or Mimi, but Jyou was at the hospital doing something for his med course…" He continued to talk, but Taichi heard nothing. His father was dead. It was one of those things that you never thought would happen. He knew that his father's family had a history of weak hearts, but his dad was invincible. He was only 46. He couldn't have died. He had always talked of how he looked forward to having grandchildren sitting on his lap, and waking up at the age of 70 to find his wife still lying next to him. He was supposed to have time to retire and travel the world and be the best father, husband, father-in-law and grandfather in the world. He wasn't supposed to be dead.

"Taichi!" he blinked in surprise when his mother hurled herself at him and dissolved into tears. He had no idea how he had managed to get to his childhood home, but he was standing in the kitchen, where his father had cooked them all normal meals twice a week to save them from their mother's cooking. His father's beer glass was sitting on the bench, unwashed from the night before. Remnants of breakfast were strewn around the room- his mother had always hated cleaning and so she usually put it off as much as possible.

"Mum," he replied, engulfing her in a hug and patting her back, "I don't really understand it." He noticed Hikari and Takeru sitting on the couch. Takeru was holding her and she was sobbing on his shoulder. He practically picked his mother up and walked over to the other couch before sinking down onto it. His mother just fell on him. She was crying so much that she didn't have the strength to move by herself.

"His heart gave out. He wasn't feeling well all week and I just ignored it as stress because he was so busy at work and… and now… now he's gone and I don't know what to do. He was my life!" his mother managed to gasp out between sobs. He hugged her harder, trying to ignore the tears that were filling his own eyes. This whole thing seemed unreal.

"I didn't see him this morning. I overslept, so I rushed out of the kitchen without saying goodbye," Hikari cried, her tears having made Takeru's white shirt turn a little see-through, "I didn't say goodbye." Taichi had no idea what to say. He had never thought he would be in this situation, at least not for another twenty or thirty years, so he said nothing. He just continued to hug his mother. Koushiro had disappeared- presumably back to school. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours before he couldn't take it anymore. It was just too depressing in that room.

"I need to go outside for a while. I'll go and get Sora and come back here, okay?" he finally said, prying his mother off him and handing her over to Hikari, who had released Takeru. As he watched his sister hug their mother he got angry. It was worse for Hikari than it was for him. She was only sixteen. She wouldn't have a father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding. She would never get to have a father-daughter photo in their apartment before her school formal. She would always have to eat their mother's food- if their mother still cooked that was. He turned away quickly and left without another word. He would pick up his girlfriend and then return. He needed a walk.

His girlfriend was Sora Takenouchi. She had been his childhood best friend, and he had been crazy about her for as long as he could remember. They both loved sports and loved to have a good time, but they were completely different at the same time. He was loud and overly-confident about everything. She was pretty quiet unless she was excited about something, and she was quietly confident. Where he was insensitive, she understood people and whilst he loved telling rude jokes, she loved the lame ones. In his eyes, she was perfect. She would understand about his father's death, and she would know how to make everyone feel better. She could do that just by being in the room. Her ability of healing others was remarkable, but he wasn't sure if she had the same effect on everyone as she had on him.

He arrived at their apartment quickly and opened the door in a bit of a haze. She wasn't in the living room or the kitchen so he went to check the laundry when he heard noises coming from the spare room, where they had set up a mini soccer-pitch to keep them occupied when it was raining. The door was slightly open, and through it he could see… his girlfriend making out with his male best friend. He blinked and waved his hand in front of his eyes. He couldn't be seeing Yamato Ishida making out with Sora.

"What time does Taichi finish his lectures today?" Yamato asked when they took a break. He was holding her close to him and she smiled contentedly.

"He won't be home for a couple of hours. We have plenty of time, don't worry," Taichi couldn't move. They hadn't seen him yet as they were too absorbed in each other, but he knew that they would catch him if he stood there for much longer. He wanted to go in there and say something, yell at them or something, but he had no idea what to say. His father's death that morning had already hurt him enough- now he felt as though everything was coming crashing down. He felt as though his heart had been replaced by a voodoo doll that was being punctured by millions of tiny needles. He loved Sora, and he had thought that she loved him too. And Yamato was his best friend! It couldn't be happening.

"Taichi? I thought that you were bringing Sora back with you," he looked at his sister, again unaware of how he had arrived there. His mother and Takeru were gone- he supposed his mother was in bed and Takeru had had to go back to school.

"Oh, she wasn't home. I don't really know where she is. How are you holding up?" he was aware that his voice sounded emotionless, but he had no idea what he could do to change it. After seeing Sora and Yamato together, his emotions had completely jumbled up. He felt many things; sadness, anger, and betrayal were the main ones, but as he was also feeling guilty about not talking to his family more than he had, his mind had stopped the emotions from actually affecting him.

"I just can't believe that he's gone," she told him as she moved to put the kettle on to make some tea, "It's all too sudden. Mum's sleeping- Takeru found her some sleeping pills and slipped some into her tea. He's gone back to school to pick up homework, and then he has to help his mother with a report. He told me to tell you that he's sorry though. Are you staying here tonight?" He nodded numbly and pulled out his phone.

"I'll leave a message on the machine for Sora so she doesn't worry," Hikari nodded and continued to pour the tea whilst he left a calm message on the machine he and Sora had bought together for their apartment, "Hey Sora, it's me. I'm going to stay with Mum tonight as an emergency cropped up. Please call when you get this message. Love you, bye!" His heart hurt as he thought about Sora.

"Is everything okay? I mean, other than Dad dying? You look much worse now than you did before, and something tells me that it's not just because Dad died," it was times like these that he hated having a perceptive sister, because by the time he realized that he didn't want to tell her anything about it, his mouth calmly said

"I saw Yama and Sora making out at our apartment when I went home to get her." Hikari's eyes widened and she almost choked on her tea.

"What?" she exclaimed, shaking her hand to get the tea off.

"It didn't look like the first time they've done that either. And I think that… maybe they have been doing worse than that. I think it's been going on for a while," he continued as though she hadn't spoken, "I didn't say anything to them. They don't even know that I was there, but I saw it. I don't know what to do. It hurts so much, and with Dad dying this morning…" Tears gathered in his eyes and started to fall. He had never really cried much, and so it surprised him to feel the tears run down his cheeks.

"Well, I have a lot to say to them! How dare they do that to you? She's supposed to love you and he's your best mate. Give me your phone; I'll leave them a good message!" she reached for the phone, absolutely furious. He stopped her and shook his head.

"No. I don't want them to know that I know. I'll deal with it later. Dad is more important than she is anyway- we'll have the funeral to plan and other things to deal with. We need to help Mum out for a while, and I don't think that Sora and I breaking up would help her very much. When everything settles down, then I will deal with it," Hikari looked a little doubtful, but also a little proud.

She was happy that he was trying to deal with the situation in a mature fashion, but at the same time she just wanted him to scream at them. She wanted to have a go at them too- they had hurt her brother so much that she didn't know if he would ever fully recover. He and Sora had been dating for four and a half years now, and they had trusted each other completely. She had broken that trust horribly, and Hikari only hoped that she hadn't completely destroyed his chance at complete happiness.

"Are you sure that you want it this way?" she asked him, but at that moment his phone rang and he put up his hand to say that he would answer her in a minute.

"Hey Sora… yeah, I'm staying with Hikari and my mother. My father died this morning and so, yeah… Nah, we're okay here. Mum's sleeping now. She is really cut up about this, but she's strong. She'll get past this. Hikari's here with me now. Will you be alright if I stay here? Alright, good night… love you too, bye," he hung the phone up before burying his face in his hands. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and forced him into a hug. She hated seeing him like this. Sora had a lot to answer for, and so had Yamato. What on Earth were they doing?

"Everything will be alright," she whispered to him, having no idea of what else she could say. He pulled away after a moment and gave her a short smile.

"I know. Anyway… we'd better get this place tidied up. I doubt that Mum will be in any mood to clean for at least a few days, and we don't want mould growing. Do you promise me that you will stay friends with Sora and you won't mention anything about this to _anyone_?" he asked her seriously, looking down so he could see her face. She sighed.

"I promise, but I don't like it. You deserve better than her. But you will find someone better and we will grieve for Dad without breaking down and we will get through all of this as a family, right?" he nodded briefly and messed up her hair like he had done when they were younger.

"Right squirt. Now, do you want to wash the dishes or dry them?"

* * *

Two months had passed since his father's death, and life was beginning to get back to what he had considered normal before his father's death. He and Sora were still dating, but he always found himself wondering when she went to meet Yamato. She hadn't seemed to notice the awkwardness that had come up between them, or if she had, she had probably assumed that it was due to his father's passing. She tried to help him feel better about his father by talking about the good things about him, and she also knew when he wanted to stay quiet about it. In short, if he hadn't known that she had been cheating on him, he would have thought that she was an angel. But she had cheated on him, and after knowing this for just over two months, he couldn't take it anymore. 

"Hey Taichi, how were your classes today?" she asked as he entered the apartment, a glass of milk in one hand. She kissed him on the cheek and sat down on the couch. It looked as though she had just returned from her own classes, as her books were next to the door. He shook his head and sat down on the couch next to her.

"They were alright," he said dismissively, before trying to gather his courage to summon the words he needed. He needed to break up with her for his own sanity, but for some unknown reason he couldn't tell her that he knew what she was doing. She moved as though to sit closer to him and on instinct he pulled away. She looked a little puzzled by his behaviour.

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking very concerned. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He avoided looking at her and instead he stared at a picture of the two of them that was on the coffee table. It was one of three photos on the table and it had been taken on by Taichi's mother on the day they had first met. The picture depicted two grinning five year olds, both wearing jeans and t-shirts with a soccer ball at their feet. Taichi's arm was thrown around Sora, and her red hair was hidden under a helmet. His hair was almost blocking her face out of the photo, but it was just too short to do so. That was the day they had sworn to be best friends forever. Now he was about to do something that would break that promise. It was slowly killing him.

"No, I guess I'm not, not really anyway. I've been thinking about a lot of things these past few months, even before Dad died, and… well… I think that it would be best if we broke up," she stared at him as though he was speaking a different language. Again he avoided her gaze and looked at the next photo. It showed the whole group of the original digidestined, which they were a part of. The digidestined had traveled to the Digital World, a parallel world to Earth, and they had saved both worlds several times. Yamato, Hikari, Takeru and Koushiro were all in the group too, along with another boy, Jyou, and his girlfriend Mimi. They had all become close friends, and in the photo they were all hugging and laughing and having a good time. That photo had been taken when he had been thirteen, so six years before. It felt much longer than six years ago.

"Y-you want to break up?" she whispered after a few minutes had passed, "But why? I mean… I love you and I thought that you loved me and… and I thought that we were happy together!" A small part of him wanted to scream out that he did love her, and that he had been happy with her, and that he still would be if he hadn't seen her with Yamato, but that voice was quickly squashed. He had a plan that he hoped would hurt her almost as much as she had hurt him.

"Well… you were wrong, in a way. I just can't do this anymore. I did love you that way once, maybe, but now… I just can't. Nothing can change my mind about this. I've already packed my things. Here's three months rent- I know that it's unfair to leave without paying, so I got it all out for you." He didn't say it, but the money he was holding out to her was part of the money he had been saving up to buy her an engagement ring. The look on her face made him want to break down and tell her the truth, but he couldn't. She had cheated on him- she had to pay the price for that. No matter how much he loved her, he couldn't stay knowing what she had done and what she was probably still doing. Still, he had to try very hard to keep himself from crying.

"But… are you sure that you want to do this? I mean… what was the problem? Did I do something wrong? Please, tell me and I'll fix it!" he wished that it could be that simple, but he doubted that she could turn back time. He slowly shook his head and stood. He had to leave now before he chickened out.

"I'm sorry. This was a really hard decision to make but I really think that it is for the best. You deserve someone who can love you with their whole heart, and I can't do that. But I still want to be friends," tears were falling down her cheeks, and she was trying hard to hide them. He was sinking now and he had to get out before he hit the bottom.

"I don't know if I can be just friends with you now. I don't know how. We've been together for over four years- how can you just throw that away? Have you just pretended to love me for all of these years? Why now? Please just tell me why!" he closed his eyes to block her tears and ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't tell you because it's too complicated. I don't even understand it myself, but I just have to get out of this now. I have to go now. I told Mum I'd bring my stuff over before the digidestined meeting tonight. I'll see you there, if you are going," he dropped the cash for the rent on the coffee table beside the third picture. This picture had been his favourite in the past. It had been taken only a year ago by Hikari when she was practicing her photography. Neither Taichi nor Sora had known that the photo was being taken. They had been sitting on the grass on the soccer pitch, leaning against a goalpost. Taichi had his arms wrapped around her, and she was looking up at him, laughing at something he had just said. The sun had been setting in the background, and it had reflected off Sora's red hair to make the scene look a little dreamy. Before he had always seen the sun as a sign of the beauty he always associated with her. Now, when he saw the setting sun, he saw it as a sign that their days were over. When he left the apartment a few minutes later, the last thing he saw was the setting sun of that picture.

* * *

Hikari rushed to the digidestined meeting, cursing her bad luck. She had hoped to skip her photography club meeting that afternoon so that she could get home and talk to her brother, but the teacher had seen her before she could leave. She had been forced to attend the meeting and hence she had no idea what kind of state her brother was in. He had told her what he was going to do that afternoon, and she knew that it was going to be hard on him. She wanted to be there for him. 

"Whoa Hikari, slow down! You're going to hurt yourself soon if you don't be careful!" Takeru called out as she neared the small group sitting under a cherry blossom tree. Takeru, Yamato, Mimi, Jyou and Koushiro were all seated under the tree, along with Daisuke, Ken, Miyako and Iori, the newer digidestined, but there was no sign of Taichi or Sora.

"Is my brother here yet?" she asked as soon as she was close enough to them, ignoring Takeru's warning. The others shrugged and looked concerned. It wasn't often that Hikari acted strangely like this.

"No, he's not here yet, but Sora isn't either. They probably just got delayed or something. Calm down. Has something happened?" Yamato asked calmly. The blonde musician never liked to show his emotions to others, so most of the time he was the epitome of cool. She shook her head and looked around the park to see if she could find her brother.

"No I just wanted to talk to him about something. Ah, there he is!" she finally pinpointed her brother, who was walking slowly on his way over there. Without waiting for a reply from the others, she took off towards him. He was looking at the sky as he walked, and his lips were moving in what she guessed was some kind of prayer. He definitely deserved some good luck, "Hey Taichi. Are you alright?" She asked him gently when she caught up with him. He jumped a little and took his eyes off the sky to look at her.

"The sun's setting," he told her. She was a little confused. What on Earth was he going on about? "I'm sorry that I'm late- I had to stop Mum from going over and committing murder. I didn't tell her why we broke up, but she assumed that it was _her_ fault anyway." At least now she knew what he was talking about. He sounded a little strange, but he was trying to sound semi-cheerful. She really hated Sora at this moment.

"That would be Mum. She always tries to protect us from everything bad that can happen. I'd hide those kitchen knives if I were you," she joked, trying to copy his mood. He grinned, but she could tell that it was forced. They were close to the others now, so she lowered her voice, "You don't need to be here you know. I can tell the others for you, if you want, and you can go home. It's not too late for that." He shook his head.

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine," he told her quietly, but she wasn't convinced. This was going to be a tough meeting.

"Where's Sora?" Mimi asked once the two of them had rejoined the group. Hikari wanted to hit her for that. Taichi's grin became even more forced, and she knew that she wasn't the only one who noticed it.

"I don't know if she's going to come today," he said quickly as he sat down next to Yamato, "She uh… well, it didn't look like she was planning on coming anyway." Hikari racked her brain, trying to find a way to change the subject without being too obvious.

"Well, as she didn't come with you, I guess that she's not coming," Jyou stated, pushing his thick glasses back up his nose. Jyou loved logic.

"I was at my Mum's place. Well… I guess I should probably tell you guys since you're probably going to find out soon anyway but… Sora and I broke up this afternoon," there was a mixed reaction to this statement. Yamato looked a little shocked, but to Hikari's eyes he looked a little guilty too. Koushiro and Jyou exchanged confused looks- they both relied mainly on logic and as far as they were concerned, Taichi and Sora breaking up just was not logical. Takeru looked concerned- he was good at judging emotions and she knew that he could see that Taichi was very hurt. Mimi just stared open-mouthed at Taichi, her eyes wide.

"What? But you guys have been together since like forever and…" Hikari quickly glared at Mimi and the older girl finally got the hint and stopped talking. Taichi just shrugged and looked at the ground.

"I think that that was the problem. But anyway… that's why she might not turn up today," he was obviously reluctant to tell them the details of the break-up, and so Hikari decided to defend her brother.

"It's not really any of our business anyway," she stressed, finding it hard not to glare at Yamato, who was still looking slightly guilty, "So, has anything new happened in the Digital World lately?" She didn't care that she was being obvious- the others picked up on her hint and the meeting went on as though nothing was wrong.

* * *

Sora stared at the wall of the apartment, unable to move. Taichi's words were still running through her head, and she was sure that her heart was slowly ripping in two. She hadn't seen this coming. She had thought that everything was going well. The look in his eyes when he had said what he had… it didn't look as though he was overly enthusiastic about the break-up either. So why had he done it? She had to admit that she was desperate to know. 

She knew that she probably hadn't been the best girlfriend over the past few months, and her main fear was that he had broken up with her because he had found that out. She had been brought up to believe that cheating on your boyfriend was wrong. For nineteen years she had believed it, and she still held that belief. She hadn't meant to do it, but somehow, she had.

She had known that Yamato had liked her as more than a friend for a few months before anything had happened. She had done nothing to suggest to him that she felt the same way, because as far as she was concerned, she didn't. She was in love with Taichi. Then, one day, she was sitting with Yamato during a break between lectures at her university. Taichi was at soccer practice- he was almost always at practice now as he was very close to getting accepted into the Academy. She had no idea what they had been talking about, but before she really knew what she was doing, she had been kissing him.

She had known that it had been a big mistake. She had gone home that day unable to believe what she had done. She had promised herself that it would never happen again. She was going out with Taichi. She loved Taichi and she really had no feelings for Yamato. She told herself that, and her heart agreed with her heartily. But she had done it again later, with no recollection as to why she had done so. Soon it had become a regular occurrence. She and Yamato had secretly met up a lot, sneaking behind everyone's backs. She hoped that Taichi hadn't found out about it- she hoped that he had broken up with her because of something else and not that because if so then he would be really hurt, and it hurt her to think that. It would also mean that she really had thrown her happiness away. Why had she cheated on him? She still didn't have an answer.

It hurt so much. She didn't think that it would ever stop hurting. The tears refused to stop falling and she didn't have the strength to even reach for a tissue. There was a knock on the door of the apartment, but she didn't move. She didn't really feel like seeing anyone.

"Sora, it's me, Mimi. Can I come in?" darn. Mimi knew where the spare key was, and even though Sora didn't answer, she heard a key turn in the lock. She quickly wiped her eyes and managed to grab a tissue before she waited for her friend to come into the room. She needed to look stronger than she was actually feeling.

"Hey Mimi," she said softly as her pink-haired friend finally entered. Her friend immediately rushed over to her and engulfed her in a huge hug.

"Oh Sora, I'm sorry," Sora pulled away slowly and pasted on a smile.

"It's okay Mimi. I'm fine. I take it that you've heard the news?" it wasn't really a question, but Mimi nodded anyway.

"Taichi told us at the meeting. He didn't say anything except that you had broken up. He seemed upset too. Maybe it's all just a misunderstanding and you'll be back together before you know it," it was a nice thought, but Sora knew that it wasn't going to happen. She knew that Mimi was just trying to cheer her up, but in fact she was making her feel worse, because she knew that she really deserved this. Still, she kept her smile badly pasted onto her face and refused to let all of the hurt show.

"Somehow I don't think that will happen. He said that it was a hard decision, but he seemed determined about it. But maybe it is for the best," she tried to sound positive, but she knew that she didn't succeed. Mimi looked very sympathetic, and also a little surprised.

"So Taichi broke up with you?" Mimi seemed torn between trying to cheer her up and trying to find out what had happened. Sora guessed that Taichi hadn't disclosed any details at all.

"Yeah, he broke up with me. I can't tell you why because he didn't give a reason. I wasn't exactly expecting it," now that Mimi knew all of the details, she seemed able to concentrate.

"No, I doubt that anyone was expecting it. Well, what's done is done. If you guys are meant to be together, it will happen. Maybe he has heard something about his soccer and he doesn't want to disrupt your life, or something. Everything will be alright in the end," Sora nodded absently, her thoughts dwelling on what Mimi had said. She knew that that probably wasn't the reason, but she wanted to believe that it was.

"Everything will be alright. He still wants to be friends with me though and I don't know how to do that with him. How do you go back to being just friends with someone you've dated for over four years?" Mimi considered it for a moment.

"You just go slowly and take it a day at a time I guess. It'll be weird at first, but it will get better with time. Time heals everything," Sora sighed and was forced to wipe her eyes as the tears threatened to all again. Mimi pulled her into another hug and they sat like that for a long, long time.

* * *

A week had passed since he had broken up with Sora and it seemed to hurt him more than when he had actually done it. The few times he had bumped into her had been strained and uncomfortable and he wasn't sure if he could even handle being friends with her. Hikari had been really good- she knew when to talk to him and when to leave him alone. She and Takeru were constantly there for him, which was good because he couldn't really talk to Yamato anymore. He was just drifting along in his life now. He went to classes, but he couldn't pay attention. He went to soccer practice, but he had suddenly seemed to lose all of his skill. He couldn't find anything to be happy about. 

He was playing around on his lap top when he received an e-mail. To his surprise, it was from Gennai. The old man who lived in the Digital World hadn't contacted them in a while, and when he did he usually wrote to Koushiro. To have an e-mail from Gennai was very rare indeed. He opened it and as he read, he felt his jaw drop.

_Hello Taichi, I hope that you are well. I have a proposition for you if you are interested. I have been in touch with a university in America. They are offering ten spots for ten digidestined to study politics and diplomacy. The ten students will then be sent back to their home countries and become Ambassadors to the Digital World. I am offering one of these places to you. Please consider it and let me know via e-mail what your decision is. The training starts in a month, but there will be a room for you at the university from next week. You will meet the other nine students when you arrive. Please let me know your decision as soon as possible and I will send you more details. Regards Gennai._

He stared at the words, trying to get it to sink in. Gennai wanted him to be a representative of the Digital World. He was already studying history and languages at university, and he had considered going into politics, but he had kept that to himself. Everyone had assumed that he was going to be a soccer star and that his classes were just giving himself something to do whilst waiting for that chance. Now he had a real chance to make something of himself. It would be a new start.

"Hey Hikari, come here!" he called over his shoulder to where his younger sister was studying Maths with Takeru. She came quickly- she was always ready to help him out at the moment. Takeru followed her a little more slowly. It was the first time they had heard Taichi sound so genuinely excited since the break-up, and he was curious to know why.

"What's up?" Hikari asked and he gestured to the screen. She read the e-mail quickly before shaking her head and reading it again.

"Wow," she finally said, "That is pretty cool. Are you going to take it?" Here Taichi hesitated.

"I think that it is a fantastic opportunity," he said slowly, "And I doubt that I'll ever get a better offer. I'll have to think a little more about it, but I think that I probably will take it." Takeru took the time to read the e-mail now that the screen was finally facing his way.

"An ambassador, wow! That really is a good opportunity," he commented. He knew that it would be best for Taichi if he left, but he would miss him. Taichi had become like an older brother to him since the Digital World, and America was a long way away.

"I know… I've always thought that it would be cool to get into politics. That's why I took history and languages at university- a lot of politicians and diplomats did those subjects. And I get to travel and see the world, and meet lots of people from other countries. I don't think that there is much of a reason to refuse this," Taichi seemed to be getting really excited now, and Takeru knew that he wouldn't refuse. Taichi's life in Japan had fallen apart so it was logical that he should make a new start somewhere else.

"Well, you'll just have to make sure that you stay in touch with us back here. You're going to be a representative for the Digital World, and that means that you have to keep close contact with the digidestined," Takeru reminded him. He thought that it was a good way to coerce Taichi into writing to them all. Taichi grinned.

"Well… I suppose that I should just reply to Gennai now," he said, opening up the e-mail again, "Then I'd better start organizing my flight and tell my boss and stuff. If I'm supposed to be there in two or three weeks, I've got a lot to do. Will you guys help me?" Hikari looked a little sad, and Takeru knew that she wasn't as happy about all of this as she was trying to be. He nodded to answer Taichi before nodding gently to Hikari, who was nodding too. Taichi smiled to let him know that he understood before he turned to his sister.

"I just remembered that I need to call my Mum. I'll be back in a second," Takeru said quickly before rushing out into the kitchen, leaving the siblings alone. Taichi sighed quietly and ran a hand through his hair.

"I wish that you and Mum could come with me, or that I didn't need to go," he told her seriously, his grin disappearing, "I'm going to miss you when I go." She nodded before looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I know that this is what you need to do, but it's all just so sudden. First Dad and then Sora and now this… I am happy for you, I really am. You understand, don't you?" she sounded so young. Sometimes he forgot that she was only sixteen. They had always been close, and she was wiser than her years. When he had been sixteen he had thought that he was really old- now he realized that it wasn't really as old as he had thought.

"Of course I understand. It was hard enough to move out of here before- now I'll be going halfway around the world. Family is the most important thing in the world and I'm going to miss you so much. I don't really want to leave you and Mum and I can understand that you don't want me to go. I will call and write and e-mail all of the time though. I love you- you're my favourite sister," she smiled a little at that.

"That's because I'm your _only_ sister," she said cheerfully, "But don't worry, you're my favourite brother. I love you too. When are you going to tell Mum about this?" He made a face at the thought of having to tell their overprotective mother about this.

"Maybe… maybe about four or five hours before my flight?" he joked, before becoming serious, "Okay, I'll tell her tonight. She's going to kill me." She laughed and gave him a hug.

"Well, I'll be there to make sure that she doesn't. Just make sure that you e-mail Gennai with the correct answer. I want you to be happy and I think that this is a good chance. You'll make a good ambassador," she said as she released him.

"Thank you. You really are a good sister," she just shrugged and started back towards her Maths books.

"You know… Takeru called his mother about ten minutes ago. I can't imagine why he would need to call her again," Taichi laughed and began to write his reply to Gennai.

"I always knew that he was a mother's boy!" Takeru came back into the room and glared at the pair of them.

"Ooh, that really hurt Taichi," he joked as he resumed his place in front of his Maths homework, "And here I was, thinking that I could let you guys have a nice 'brother-sister moment'." Hikari rolled her eyes and grabbed his phone off him.

"Yeah right Takeru… anyway, we'd better study or we'll completely fail algebra!" Taichi rather doubted that they would fail, but he had an e-mail to send. This was the miracle he had been waiting for. He couldn't wait to leave for America.

* * *

"Let me get this right. You're leaving for America in a week?" it was another digidestined meeting. Taichi had just announced his departure, stating that it was a good career opportunity. He didn't tell them what career it was- he wanted to surprise them when he got back. They had all just assumed that it was for his soccer. He seemed to like keeping secrets recently. 

"Yep. I got a full scholarship. The term starts really soon over there, and so I need to get there and get all sorted out. It's a really good deal," Jyou knew that it probably was a good opportunity, but he felt that Taichi was rushing everything lately. Ever since his father had died he had made so many decisions that Jyou wasn't sure that he was thinking logically. A decision to move halfway across the world was supposed to take at least a week to make. He had made it in ten minutes.

"You are sure that this is what you want to do, right?" he asked the younger boy, who was lying down on the grass staring at the sky.

"Jyou, you must remember that my brother here doesn't _think_; he just acts. But I would be disappointed in him if he hadn't taken the offer- it's really, really good and he didn't have much time to reply anyway," Hikari chimed in, kicking her brother softly in the leg. He rolled his eyes and sat up.

"But America is a long way away. How will we be able to contact you in a hurry about the Digital World," Hikari hid a smile. Taichi would probably be the first to know if something was wrong. Daisuke was looking extremely put out about this however; Taichi was Daisuke's hero. Daisuke was the 'leader' of the newer destined, whereas Taichi led the older ones. Taichi also was in charge when all of the destined were together- he was a natural leader and everyone just turned to him.

"I've e-mailed Gennai about that. He'll make sure that I'll know when there's trouble."

"But… but it won't be the same without you here!" Mimi burst out. She hated saying goodbye to her friends- when they had left the Digital Word for the first time Palmon, her digimon, had refused to say goodbye until the last minute. Ever since then, Mimi had had trouble saying goodbye. When she had moved to America for a year, she had been upset about it and she hadn't told the other digidestined until after she had gone.

"I'm going to miss you guys too, but everything changes. One of us was going to leave sooner or later, and I'm glad that it is for a good reason and not a bad one," Sora had been listening to the news with a little bit of hope. Maybe he had broken up with her because he had received this offer, and he didn't want to shake up her life. But if that was the case, did that mean that America was more important to him than she was? In the end she decided that it was bad any way she looked at it. He just couldn't love her, like he had said. It still hurt and she often looked around the apartment when she was alone and wondered where he was.

"I suppose you're right. Make sure that you keep in contact though, and have a good time," Yamato was feeling really uncomfortable. He felt that he could have played a role in sending Taichi to America, and he didn't like that. He wasn't proud of the fact that he made Sora cheat on his best friend either. He couldn't really remember how it had started, but he should have stopped it. He didn't know if Taichi knew about it, but really, it never should have happened. Yamato truly did care for Sora, and he knew, deep down, that she didn't care for him as much as he cared for her. He knew that the break-up had hit her hard, and he felt so guilty for knowing that he could have contributed to her unhappiness.

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's going to be a lot of fun… and I suppose I might actually do a bit of work too. I don't know if I will have much time to come back home and visit, but I'll definitely write and call. Maybe we can organize trips to the Digital World too or something, but I will definitely stay in contact. But I expect you guys to write to me too otherwise I'll stop staying in touch. But it's only for three and a half years. I'll be back before you know it," the mood suddenly turned a little more serious, "Besides I'm still here for another week." That didn't seem to make them feel better.

"Three years is a long time, but you're right. Everything will go quickly and you'll be back before we've had time to celebrate the fact that you've gone," Takeru said cheekily, earning him a sharp punch on the shoulder. Taichi and Takeru really did act like brothers most of the time.

"Takeru's right. A three and a half year party isn't long enough," Hikari backed up her best friend, and she received an evil glare from her brother.

"Why are you all ganging up against me? You guys are so mean," he pouted. He saw Sora out of the corner of his eye. She hadn't said a word since he had said that he was going to America, and she still looked really upset. It hurt him to see her like that, so he refused to look at her.

"We need to throw you a going away party or something," Daisuke said thoughtfully, and everyone instantly agreed. Taichi didn't look enthusiastic however.

"I don't know… I have a lot to do this week," he said apologetically, "But you can throw a party in my honour if you like." This more mature version of Taichi wasn't seen very often. He usually didn't plan things, but just did them. It was a credit to him now that he was seeing the serious side of his trip. The others looked a little disappointed, but they knew what he meant.

"Oh don't worry, we will," Yamato assured him, and to their surprise, Koushiro was nodding along with him.

"We definitely will," the red-headed genius said, catching everyone off guard. Koushiro didn't often agree to random parties. As the discussion moved on to other things Taichi leant back and relaxed. He was going to miss this.

* * *

When Taichi finally reached the place he would call home for the next three and a half years, he was still in shock from the sheer size and openness of America. Japan was a very crowded country, and most people tended to live in apartments. On his way to the university Taichi had passed several mansions and even the regular houses seemed like palaces to him. The thing that amazed him the most was that each house had its own garden, and quite a few had held kids engaged in a game of soccer or some other kind of sport. In short, it was a shock to his system. 

"G'day. My name is Entier. Are you also here for the digidestined ambassador training thing?" a tall guy, who looked to be around nineteen years old, called out to him as he entered the living room of the house they were staying in. Entier had very tanned skin that suggested he loved the outdoors. His hair was short and brown, with blonde tips and his eyes were a serious grey, "I'm the digidestined from Australia. Where are you from?" Taichi set his suitcase down and held out his hand. It was a good thing that he had taken English at university, because otherwise he would have had no idea what Entier had just said.

"My name is Taichi and I'm Japanese. It's nice to meet you," he began to look around the room, noticing that the kitchen was attached to the living room. There was a small bathroom on this level too, and a large staircase.

"The bedrooms are all upstairs. There are five beds up there, so I'm assuming that there are five of us guys. The rest all must be in a different house," Entier told him, noticing his stares, "There is another guy here already, but I'll let him introduce himself. His English isn't very good, but I'm sure we'll all learn to communicate somehow." Taichi nodded and flopped down on the couch. The flight had been exhausting, but the sights had kept him awake. Now that he was in the place he was to consider home, he just wanted to drop.

"How long have you been here?" he asked Entier, trying hard to keep awake. It was only two in the afternoon after all, and to make sure that he didn't have sleeping problems he was going to have to wait to sleep.

"I got here yesterday. It's a bit hard to adjust to the time difference. Back home in Melbourne it is six in the morning. I'm guessing that it's around that time in Japan, right?" Taichi looked down at his watch, which was still running on Japanese time.

"It's four in the morning there. I would definitely be sleeping. Hey, in Australia do you play soccer?" Entier collapsed onto the couch across from him, considering the question.

"Well… we do have it in our country, but it hasn't been very popular. Our soccer team was pretty ordinary for a few years, but after the World Cup and us coming really close to the grand final, it became more popular. We love our cricket and our Aussie rules football. We're sports mad in Melbourne. The city is full of sports stadiums. Do you play soccer?"

"Yeah, I was almost good enough to get into the national academy," he replied modestly, "I grew up playing it with my best friend. She was pretty good at it too. In fact, most of the Japanese destined think that I am here on a soccer scholarship. I want to surprise them when I go home. Do you have a crest?" they got along very easily. Taichi found out that Entier was the leader of the digidestined from Melbourne Australia, and that the Melbourne destined were different to the Sydney destined. He also found out that he had the crest of Integrity and his digimon was a Tyrannamon.

They were just comparing their teams when a short, younger looking boy came downstairs. He stared curiously at Taichi. He had dark skin and black, short hair. His eyes were a deep brown, and he smiled a bright smile.

"Tad, this is Taichi. He's from the Japanese destined. Taichi, this is Tadelesh, from Tunisia," Entier introduced. Tadelesh waved a hand.

"Please call me Tad," he said in awkward English, My full name is very… not good." He scrunched up his nose and Taichi laughed.

"Okay, I will call you Tad. Tunisia is in Africa, right?" Tad seemed to process what he said and then nodded.

"It's right at the top. We speak French and Arabic and we are taught English once we turn ten. I was never very good at English," he didn't seem very disappointed about that. Taichi found himself immediately liking him. They were in the middle of a conversation about soccer, which Tad happened to love, when another boy strolled in, carrying minimal luggage.

"Hey guys, what's up? I'm Michael, one of the American destined," he was blond, which reminded Taichi a little of Yamato and Takeru, but Michael didn't really look like either of them. He had blue eyes, and a freckled nose, and he looked really friendly and outgoing. They all introduced themselves and soon were discussing all kinds of sports, as Michael and Entier weren't too enthusiastic about soccer.

"Excuse me; is this the place for the digidestined ambassador training?" the boy who had spoken this talked very fast, and it was very difficult to tell what he was saying. His English was good, but accented. He had dark coloured hair and he seemed shorter and slightly younger than the others.

"Yeah mate, that's us. I'm Entier, from Australia. What's your name?" the boy smiled and dropped his bags on the floor.

"I'm Fedele, from Chile," he said politely before joining the rest of them on the couches. They all introduced themselves to him and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

"I almost deleted the e-mail from Gennai. I thought that it was too good to be true. Luckily my brother convinced me it was real, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now," Fedele said once the introductions were over. Taichi yawned and nodded, just wanting to sleep.

"Yeah, I was so relieved to find an excuse to leave my home town for a while that I thought that I had imagined it, but my sister confirmed it was real. This time difference thing really kills though. It's been about thirty four hours since I last slept," he complained, rubbing his eyes to keep them open. Entier nodded in agreement, but Tad and Fedele didn't seem as effected. And of course, Michael lived in New York, so he had no problems with time difference at all.

"It would only be 8:30 at night in Tunisia, so I am not really tired. Also, I slept on the plane," he grinned, obviously laughing at those who were sleep deprived. Entier threw a cushion at him.

"Well, as I said before to Taichi, it's six in the morning in Melbourne. But Taichi has it worse; I spent the night here, so I'm a little bit used to the time zone," he said as Tad managed to dodge the cushion.

"Hey, do you guys know where the girls are staying? We might as well try to get to know all of our classmates," Fedele said quickly, talking very fast once again. Taichi shrugged, and Tad shook his head. Michael pointed to his left.

"I think that they are in the next house over. Gennai had to rent these all out for us, or the government did or something, so they'll be close. We can always go check," he suggested. There was a knock at the front door, and Michael jumped up to answer it.

"Hello, are you ze digidestined?" Taichi frowned. He had heard that voice before. A few seconds later, five girls piled into the living room, following Michael.

"I think that answers your question Fedele," Tad said slowly, watching the five girls curiously. To Taichi's surprise, he actually knew one of them.

"Catherine? Are you the French representative?" it was the blond girl who had spoken at the door. Her golden hair hung down below her shoulders, and her skin was porcelain white. From what he remembered, she had a fun personality, and Takeru had had a crush on her when they had met her. He and Takeru had met her when they had to go around the world and enlist the help of the world's digidestined. She had been very capable in that aspect too, from what he remembered.

"Taichi, it is good to see you again. Yes, I am the French representative. You are Japan's?" he nodded and she smiled, "How is young Takeru?"

"He's fine. I think that he's trying to ask my sister out, but he hasn't gathered the courage yet; probably because he's scared I will kill him if he does. Hopefully he will ask her now that I am out of the country," she laughed and he suddenly realized that the others were staring at them, "This is Catherine, representative of the French destined. We met during that world crisis thing a couple of years back." He told the guys. They nodded.

"I'm Rachel, from England," a tall, dark haired girl said quietly. She was rather pretty, but she looked serious and quiet, rather unlike most of the guys.

"I am Anna, from Russia. I think I met one of the Japanese destined too… Sora. Do you know her?" Taichi nodded.

"Yep, I've known her my whole life. She mentioned that she went to Russia," Anna looked pleased that he had said that. She was tiny- he knew that he was rather tall, but she barely came up to his shoulder. She had dark hair, but she had put some blond in it, and her eyes were dark.

"I'm Tanja, from Germany," this girl was tall and had multi-coloured hair. It looked like it had been originally brown, but it had streaks of red, blonde, purple and blue in it. It made a weird effect. She was standing confidently next to Catherine, as though she was certain that was where she should be. She had obviously been a leader in Germany.

"I am Akili, from Kenya. It is nice to meet you all," Akili spoke softly, but her voice held a power that made everyone listen when she spoke. She was calm and she smiled a lot. Her dark skin was a definite contrast to the other girls, making her stick out a little bit. The guys all introduced themselves and they all settled on the couches again.

"Isn't it exciting that our governments all want to be involved with the Digital World?" Catherine asked once they were all seated. There were a few murmurs of agreement.

"I think it's pretty cool that we all get a scholarship here and get such a fun job. I always wanted to work with Digimon," Entier said, "Then again, in my country politicians are usually made fun of, and so I'll probably be teased. My fellow destined in Melbourne were making fun of me before I left." The others snickered and he sighed dramatically.

"Well, we're doing a very important job, so it does not matter if they laugh," Anna said firmly, trying to hide a smile. They all got on really well, and by the time they stopped talking and had dinner, it was almost time for them to sleep. As Taichi fell into bed that night, he felt more at peace than he had been for the past few months. Moving to America had been the best thing he could ever have done. He fell asleep with a small smile on his face.

_

* * *

_

_Dear Hikari_

_How are you? I already miss you and it has only been a few weeks. I have met many interesting people from all over the world. The other nine digidestined in my course were all leaders of their respective groups. Some of the countries chosen are a little strange- I had never really heard of Tunisia before I met Tadelesh- or Tad as he likes to be called. Ooh, before I forget, please tell Takeru that Catherine says 'hi' and also that she would ask now if she was him… whatever that means._

_My classes are very fun. We have already started some of them- language classes. I have to learn to speak the languages of the others here fluently. I can speak English okay, but the others… I need to learn French, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish and Swahili, and I have to help teach Japanese. My English also needs a lot of improvement for Gennai's standards too. So far the language classes have been fun. English is taught by Michael, the American who knows Mimi, Entier, the Australian, and Rachel, the English girl._

_Entier is a pretty weird guy. His name is strange even in his home country, and he leads the digidestined in Melbourne Australia. He's pretty serious most of the time, and he spends a lot of time communicating with his team back home via an instant messenger service called 'msn'. He kind of looks after the more irresponsible of the group, but he still knows how to have fun. He's not into soccer, but he loves a sport called 'cricket' and he keeps on teasing Rachel because Australia just beat England 5-0 in a series of that sport over there._

_Rachel is one of the girls, so I don't really know her all that well yet. She loves sports, but again, cricket is better than soccer in her opinion. She still loves soccer however, and has offered to play goal-keeper for us whenever we need someone. She told us that she is in charge of the English digidestined because she was the only one who had any idea what was going on. Apparently most of her team is studying to get into medicine or law, and so they hadn't actually paid much attention to the Digital World because it didn't help them study._

_Tad is completely different to the others. He seems to take everything except for his own responsibilities as a joke. He loves to trick all of us, and we have to watch out for his practical tricks. However, he has very strict moral values; no matter how much he plays with people, he never does anything that can hurt anyone in any way. I think you'd like him. There are only three Tunisian digidestined, and so he took charge mainly because he believed in the cause more than the other two. He is very serious about his beliefs, but most of the time he is fun (and sometimes annoying) to be around._

_Catherine is the French destined. I think that she and Mimi would have millions of long conversations about fashion- I think she takes about an hour every morning just to choose an outfit. But she likes to have fun as well. She is not keen on sports, but never, EVER go with her to a motorcycle show! She loves motorbikes and cars and everything with an engine. She is very immature when she wants to be, and loud, but she is also very intelligent._

_Fedele from Chile is a quiet, serious guy. And when I say serious, I mean… Koushiro-like serious. He talks very fast when he does talk, but he's more the quiet type. He is very smart- probably smarter than everyone else here except for possibly Akili, but he doesn't use a lap top to find information. I have no idea how he does it, but I swear that the guy knows practically _everything!_ He's really nice too, and often rolls his eyes at Tad's antics._

_Akili hails from Kenya. She is scarily silent most of the time. She participates in classes and she talks to the girls a lot, but I think that she's a little shy around us guys. She, like Fedele, is very smart. She loves running and often goes off for a jog before classes- Anna told us that she gets up at four in the morning to run. But she's very sweet and very, very wise- her crest is that of wisdom and I think that fits very well._

_Anna is one of the Russian destined. She says that she has met Sora, during that going-around-the-world thing we did. Anna is… well, Anna! She is always willing to offer an opinion about anything if we let her, and I think that she is the most enthusiastic of all of us about this. She's really kind and she knows when to forgive people for the things they have done…_

_Tanja is very unique. She likes to do things her own way, but she understands everyone's view-points and takes them into consideration. She is very outgoing, but sometimes she can be moody. I don't really know her very well, but she's a good person._

_Michael is very strange. He is very out-going and friendly, but at the same time he is rather impatient with people. He likes tricks and jokes as much as Tad does, but he sometimes takes jokes too seriously. I do like him; I just find him a little odd. He and Tad often go out partying- and drag us much more mature guys out with them._

_All in all though, we all have a good time together. We have had a few misunderstandings and a few accidental insults thrown around, but it's pretty fun living here. I miss all of you in Japan, some more than others, but I do miss all of you guys. Please don't forget your promise Hikari. I know that you want to, but you know that it means a lot to me. I still miss her Well, I better go now- its Swahili practice and I am currently being yelled at for not writing this in Swahili… so, say hi to Mum from me and give her a hug too. Please write soon- I might go crazy if you don't. I'll call soon._

_Love, Taichi_

As soon as he had finished writing, he turned, grabbed a nearby cushion, and threw it at Tad, who was complaining about the fact that Taichi's letter was in Japanese characters.

"My sister doesn't know Swahili stupid," he muttered as he dropped the letter in an envelope, "Why don't you go bother someone else?" The African boy just smiled and shook his head.

"Tell me about your team Taichi! I want to know what you Japanese destined are like," Taichi was impressed, as Tad said most of this is Swahili. Of course neither of them was very good at it at the moment- they had only been in America for three weeks and they had only had fifteen Swahili lessons. Taichi sighed and tossed the now-sealed letter onto his desk.

"I've already told you. There are eight Japanese destined- five guys including myself and three girls. We're all very different but we are close friends. There isn't much more to say than that," he shrugged as though to end the conversation, but Tad wasn't satisfied.

"Aw… come on! Entier has told us all about Steph and Emma and the rest of his gang, and Catherine amuses us with tales of the French destined and you know about the other two Tunisian destined and everyone else has _at the very least_ told us the names of the people in their group, but you haven't told us about anyone except Hikari, and a little about Takeru. What about the girl that Michael knows, Mimi? Or the girl Anna knows, Sora?" Taichi tensed a little unintentionally at Sora's name, and Tad noticed.

"Mimi is a very bubbly girl. She speaks her mind all of the time, but she never means to hurt anyone. She is a pacifist- she hates violence. She is very pretty too, and she often models for various companies. Her major interest when I left was cooking- she wants to go into the hospitality business I think. She's currently dating Jyou, who is another destined. Is that an okay description for you?" he didn't mean to snap, but the mention of Sora's name did that to him.

Now that he was miles away from her, it was all beginning to sink in. She had cheated on him, and he had said nothing about it. It seemed like strange behaviour, but he just wanted to forget that it had happened. He was too proud to admit that Yamato was more important to her than he was. It hurt too much, so he avoided it. And maybe, just maybe, there was a small part of him that hoped that by leaving without a proper explanation, he had hurt her more than if he had told her what he knew. But still, he missed her too much.

"No. Tell me about the other girl too. As you can see, I have a special interest in girls," Tad said, hoping to make Taichi lighten up a little. It had the opposite effect.

"Just shut up! Go annoy someone else. I really don't understand how you are going to make a good diplomat- we're supposed to keep peace, not destroy it!" Taichi gripped his pencil so hard that it snapped. Tad took a step back and held up his hands as though to surrender.

"Whoa… I'm sorry Taichi, I just asked because I was curious," he was always quick to apologise when he made someone upset. That was one of the best things Taichi liked about him.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't get angry just because of something like that. Sora was my girlfriend up until about two and a half months ago. It was a bad break-up kind of thing… and so I snap when I hear her name. I'm really sorry," Tad waved a hand dismissively and tried not to look too curious as he asked his next question.

"What do you mean by 'bad break-up'? Does that mean a lot of shouting and flying objects?" Taichi was sure that Tad knew what it meant, but he humoured the fellow anyway. It could be good to talk to a stranger about it all.

"Not in this case. My sister really wanted me to yell and throw things but… Sora and I broke up because of something I found out she had done. When I broke up with her, I didn't tell her why- I just said that I couldn't stay with her anymore, and she was really upset about it. She avoided me a lot before I left for here, and I avoided her too. That's why it's messy," Tad nodded thoughtfully and seemed to lose his interest in the subject. Taichi knew that he was still curious, but he knew when to curb the urge to ask questions.

"Ah, okay. I've had a few like that. In Tunisia, most of us are Muslim. I am actually Catholic, well I supposedly am, because my parents were converted to the faith by French priests. Muslim fathers are very protective about their daughters, and… well… I have often been chased away from families for trying to convert their daughters to my religion," Taichi rolled his eyes at the mischievous gleam that had suddenly appeared in his friend's eyes, and picked up his letter.

"I think any father would chase you away from their daughters if you even thought about converting them to your religion. I assume you don't mean the Catholic religion? I didn't think so. Well, I'd better go post this. I wanted to send it in an e-mail, but Hikari wanted 'an old-fashioned letter'. I'll see you later."

* * *

Taichi had been in America for six weeks now. It had been eight weeks, three days, five hours and twenty minutes since he had broken up with her, and she was still counting. Needless to say, she was a bit of a wreck. She tried to pull herself together when she was around her friends and family, but when she was alone, she let it all out. It hurt her so much. Taichi had been such a big part of her life that now she had no idea what to do without him. His words to her that day stuck in her head, as though they were on a CD playing on repeat. 

What on Earth did he mean when he said that he just couldn't do it anymore? He couldn't pretend to love her, or he couldn't hurt himself anymore by staying with her? It was driving her crazy. She should have had the strength to get over it, to understand that it was over and to move on, but she couldn't. She needed him.

"Sora?" Yamato's voice appeared out of nowhere, and there was a tentative knock on the door to the apartment. She had avoided Yamato ever since the break-up, mainly because she didn't know what to do. She didn't love him the same way she loved Taichi, and she thought that he might want her to. Still, she should have known that she couldn't avoid him forever. At least he had understood to give her time.

"You can come in," she called out, knowing that he could access the key. There was a slight shuffling noise from outside, before a key turned in the lock and he entered the apartment. She was sitting on the sofa, staring at the back of the three photographs on the coffee table. She couldn't bear to look at the actual photos, but she hadn't been able to move them. They meant too much to her.

"Hey. How are you?" Yamato asked as he settled himself on a stool across from her. He looked very uncomfortable, and he kept sneaking glances at the photographs she was refusing to stare at.

"I'm good thanks, you?" she had always been taught to be polite, no matter how one was feeling at the time. He sighed and stood, hesitating a little before finally choosing to lean against the wall.

"Was it because he found out about… well, you know?" he asked, his ice-blue eyes not revealing a flicker of emotion. Of course he would want to know about the break-up- he needed to know whether he needed to feel guilty or not. She knew that it was a harsh assessment of him, but in a way she blamed him for this whole mess. It wasn't fair, but she couldn't help it.

"He didn't say. He just said that he couldn't go on with it anymore. Do you know what he might have meant by that?" she knew that she sounded desperate, but she needed to know. He considered it for a few long moments.

"With Taichi that could mean anything," he said finally, "It could mean that he didn't want to continue the relationship because he was unhappy, or because it was hurting him to do so or because he didn't want to hurt you in some way. I must admit, I think that he would have directly confronted us if he had found out about it, because he isn't afraid of expressing anger, but he could have meant that. I really don't know. I'm sorry." She knew that he was apologizing for more than just not knowing, and she knew that she owed him an apology too.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I have blamed all of this on you, when it was my fault. Whether he knew or not, I only have myself to blame. I haven't been fair and I am sorry for that," he was silent for a while after her apology, and she knew that he was struggling with his emotions. He _hated_ admitting fault or failure to anyone, and she knew by the way he shoved his hands into his pockets that he was battling to stop his emotions from tumbling out. To him, those emotions showed that he did have weakness.

"Don't be afraid to call if you need help, okay?" she didn't know how to answer that, or why he had said it. Most of the time he was an enigma to her and she never really saw the intent behind many of his actions. He seemed really uncomfortable and she realized that he was probably waiting for an answer.

"I'll call if I need help," she assured him, although she wasn't sure if she really could. She was really confused about everything, and her 'relationship' with Yamato was one of the things that confused her the most. She wasn't in love with him, so why was she 'seeing' him?

"Good. Anyway, I have to pick Takeru up from school today, so I'd better go," he seemed to hesitate before leaving, but whatever it was that made him do so, she had no idea about. After he had left she leant back on the couch again and stared at the ceiling. The ceiling was the only thing that was in her apartment that didn't remind her of Taichi. She knew that she would have to find another flat-mate soon, to make sure that she could pay the rent, but she was reluctant to change anything. She didn't want to lose the memories she had had with Taichi, but at the moment she couldn't even look at them. It was all too hard, so she just stared at the ceiling. It had been eight weeks, three days, five hours and thirty-five minutes since he had broken-up with her.

* * *

"Uh… Catherine… why are you staring at me?" Taichi asked the blonde girl as they studied the history of American politics. Well, he had been _trying_ to study, but her constant gaze on him was making him very uncomfortable. 

"I just want to judge what type of mood you're in. That is a part of our training too, you know? Besides, if you are in one of your scary moods, I might want to study by myself," okay… that wasn't quite the answer he had expected to hear. He had _scary _moods? What on Earth was she talking about?

"What exactly is a 'scary mood'?" he asked, shutting his textbook with a roll of his eyes. She grinned and closed her own book.

"A 'scary mood' is a thing that only you can have. It occurs when you paste a fake grin on your face and try to talk as though you are really enjoying yourself, but then someone makes a comment that you mustn't agree with because you suddenly snap. But you don't seem to realize that you are angry, as you still have that weird grin on your face, and you go back to pretending that you are fine. We all know to leave you alone when you are in a 'scary mood'," she explained, still studying him. He raised an eyebrow at her description.

"So am I in one of these so-called 'scary moods' right now?" she shook her head and threw her book into her bag.

"No. But you could be close to being in one of them. We want to know why you have these moods," she said this as though she expected him to just give her an explanation. To tell the truth, he did know what she meant. He often pretended that everything was okay, but then he would hear something that would remind him of Sora and he would snap. He guessed that the moods would diminish in number over time, but at the moment everything was still too fresh.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said smoothly. She smiled innocently at him.

"You do seem to forget, my dear colleague, that I am studying the same course as you are. I have learnt to know when people are lying, and you, my dear Taichi, are lying. You know exactly what I am talking about," there was a small tremble in her voice, telling him that she wasn't as sure about that as she was implying.

"Ah, but I really don't know what you are talking about. You were the one who pointed out that I have these moods. You're going to have to tell me what sets me off," he made sure to keep his voice steady and light, to keep the tone of the conversation complete. She frowned and hit the table with her hand.

"I know you know something," she told him warningly, "I WILL find out what it is. Tad thinks that it could have something to do with your ex-girlfriend, but as you haven't said anything about that to anyone else, we think that he is just joking." He tried to keep still at this, but he didn't think that he managed it as her eyes widened, "He's right, isn't he?" He opened his textbook again and began reading a random section, as though uninterested in the conversation. He knew that he had made an error then, but he couldn't do anything about it. She wouldn't believe him no matter how much he denied it, because it was true.

"Yes, I do have an ex-girlfriend. Wow, it's such a big deal! I'm sure that Michael has at least twenty times as many as I do. Go bother him about it," damn it. He had just switched straight to 'scary mood', but he didn't care. He wanted the message to get through to them that he didn't want to talk about it. Catherine wasn't as easily scared off as Tad was though- probably because she had been expecting him to blow up. It was lucky that they were studying at the guy's house and not the library otherwise they would have been thrown out by now.

"There you go again. Please tell me what is wrong," she leant over and closed his book. He shrugged before opening it again.

"Why should I tell you anything? Okay, I'm a little sensitive about my ex, but we only broke up three months ago, and I was with her for over four years. Of course I am going to be upset about it all, but I can deal with it myself. You guys don't need to worry about it," she winced a little at his tone and he tried to gain more control of himself. He really needed to learn to keep his temper. He had done a good job of it back in Japan, but being in a different country really shouldn't affect his temper at all. He needed more self-restraint.

"You should tell me because it is good to talk about things that upset us. Friends are people that we trust to listen and help us through the rough times. We all want to help make you feel better," Taichi shook his head slowly.

"Well… I don't trust people, not anymore. I'm sorry about that, but I can't. Maybe one day you'll understand why, but to me, friends are just people you can have fun with. They aren't there to listen, but to distract you. So, why don't you be a good friend and continue to study, okay?" he didn't mean to sound so bitter, but the thoughts about friendship reminded him of Yamato, as he held the crest of Friendship.

Yamato and Taichi had not become friends immediately after they had met. They had hated each other, but slowly, over time, they had learnt to trust one another and they had become close. Yamato had shattered that trust now, and now he found it hard to trust others again.

"Okay, well the war in Algeria had a very profound effect on the French government…" Catherine said as she pulled out her book. Taichi looked at her in confusion.

"Umm… weren't we studying _American_ politics?" she blushed and quickly turned the pages in her book.

"I meant that the visit of Zhou Enlai and his principle of 'ping-pong diplomacy' were very important in thawing out Sino-American relations," she said quickly, scanning the page of the book she was on. Taichi just smiled and began to write notes. His new friends certainly were observant. He was just going to have to forget about Sora to make sure that he didn't have any more 'scary moods'. He didn't want to push his new friends away- they were much too important to him.

* * *

"Is this right?" Takeru asked as he pushed his book in front of his girlfriend. Yes, Takeru had finally gathered up the courage to ask Hikari out. She had been a bit hesitant-seeing her brother's break up with Sora had made her uncertain as to whether she wanted to risk spoiling her own relationship with Takeru, but in the end she had agreed. She trusted him with her life, and more importantly, her heart. They had now been dating for over a year, and she was very happy. 

"Hmm… no, you've accidentally written out the question wrong. It's supposed to be 5x, not x," she gave him his book back and started on another question of her own. Now that they were in year twelve, their final year of high school, they had to get this right. Two years had now passed since her brother had gone to America, and she was determined to get good grades so that he would be proud of her.

Taichi wrote to her often, both in e-mails and old-fashioned letters. He called once a week and he always sounded cheerful and happy. She had even spoken to a couple of his friends over the phone and they had assured her that he was doing fine over there. But despite all of those assurances, she knew that something was wrong with him. He told her what she wanted to know, she was sure of it. He had had several girlfriends over the past two years, but they had never lasted very long. He was still cut up about Sora, and she wanted to throttle the girl for that.

She had promised Taichi to pretend to like Sora and Yamato, and she had done as she had promised. No one except for Takeru had noticed that she wasn't sincere whenever talking to the couple- for Sora and Yamato had officially started dating around seven months after Taichi had left- but she wouldn't tell him why. She couldn't risk telling him, for he might not believe her and she didn't want a fight starting over _them_ again.

"Are you alright Hikari?" Takeru asked her after he had erased his problem and started again, "You seem worried about something." She sighed and pushed her Maths book away.

"Do you like the fact that your brother is going out with Sora?" the question surprised him.

"Well, as long as he's happy, I don't mind. I mean… I always thought that he liked her as more than a friend, but I thought she belonged with Taichi. Now that she's with Yama, they both seem happy enough, so yeah, I don't mind. Why?" she fiddled with the pages of her exercise book, trying to find the words to describe what she needed to say, "Come on Hikari. I know that you dislike Sora very much at the moment, but I would like to remind you that it was your brother who broke up with her, not the other way around. She's done nothing wrong." That brought the words straight to her mouth.

"She didn't do anything wrong? Do you even know _why_ my brother was forced to break up with her? She was _cheating_ on him!" as soon as the words left her mouth she stopped and hit herself on the head before burying her head in her hands. Takeru stared at her for a few seconds before he could reply.

"She cheated on him? No way, she wouldn't do that. This is Sora we're talking about," she didn't move and he panicked a little. Was she angry with him for not believing her? Had he said something wrong? Finally, just as he was about to apologise, she spoke.

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Taichi's going to be angry with me but… she did cheat on him. He found out about it the day Dad died. I even saw it a few days later. I didn't want to believe it at first, but my brother was devastated about it. That is why I hate her," she whispered. He put his arm around her and drew her into a hug, his Maths homework completely forgotten, "He waited to do it because Mum didn't need any more bad news at the time. He didn't tell her that he knew about it all because, I think, that he wanted to pretend that it had never happened, and that he had just fallen out of love with her. My brother is strong, but no one can get hurt like that without feeling it. I'm just worried that when he comes home, he will be different."

"He doesn't sound different over the phone, does he, or in his letter and e-mails? He won't let this affect him for very long. Taichi is one of those people who bounce back up when bad things happen. He has moved on from Sora, hasn't he? And even if he was just forcing himself to sound natural to us over the phone, his friends would have told us if something was wrong. He comes home in two years- by then he will have gotten over Sora completely. And if he wants to yell at you for telling me, then I will say that I forced you to tell me. He's not unreasonable you know," she smiled a little sadly and sat up, bringing her Maths book back towards her.

"You're right. If there was something wrong, Entier at the very least would tell me. They're all training in body-language classes, did you know that? They have to be able to lie as easily as they breathe, but at the same time they are supposed to be able to catch out the lies of their colleagues. That would mean that Entier and Tad and all of them will be able to catch him out, right? And Entier and Tad and Catherine all know him very well. I'm sure that you're right and he has settled down then," she said all of this very quickly and very happily, as though it would be that way because she had said it would be. He was happy with that- if she was happy then he was always happy.

"Yes, that's right," he hesitated for a second before asking what was on his mind, "Should I warn Yama about Sora?" She stopped scribbling in her book and stared at the page. This was going to be difficult. How was she supposed to tell him the truth?

"I think that he already knows about it. I don't think he cares," she said slowly, keeping her eyes on her Maths. He didn't want any more details- he knew what she was implying and he wanted to discount it as impossible. He didn't want to fight her though, so he just returned to his own Maths problems, "I'm sorry." She said after they had worked through a small number of questions. He was confused.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I don't know," she admitted. The desire to apologise had suddenly over-taken her, "Maybe for hating your brother. I know that you don't want to know about it, but I can't like him anymore. I'm sorry for that because I know that you care for your brother as I do for mine." He dropped his pen and rubbed his eyes. Relationships were complicated, and sometimes he hated the obligations of family.

"It's okay. My brother is a difficult person," he said that pointedly, to show he wanted to end the conversation there. He picked up his pen again and she did the same, "So have you got an answer for question six e?" She gave him the answer she had and they soon continued on as they had before. She knew that something had changed and that Takeru didn't share her point of view about things, but they had kind of agreed to disagree. It was better than a fight anyway, and at least now she felt better because he knew how she was feeling.

"Thank you," she told him as he picked up his books to leave later on that night. He didn't have to ask to know that it wasn't for the Maths help- she was better at Maths than he was anyway. He smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Nothing is lost whilst we still have hope," he told her quietly. When she had first heard that saying, she had immediately thought that it was a sign that she would end up with him, as he held the crest of Hope. Now she thought of that comment as a continuous sign that he would make sure that everything was alright. She knew that that wasn't what he meant when he said it, but it was how she chose to hear it anyway.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she replied with a smile. He nodded and left, and her world dimmed a little. She had hope however, so she knew that it would brighten once again. She only wished that her brother had his own version of hope, so that he didn't get lost along the way.

* * *

Melbourne Australia was a very beautiful place, Taichi found. He and the others had completed their course, and were now traveling around the world to meet all of the digidestined that they were going to need to call if an emergency cropped up. You see, the whole point of making ambassadors to the Digital World was to open up the two worlds so that humans and digimon could live together. That wouldn't happen for a few years yet, but it was hoped that one day there would be peace between the two worlds. That also meant that the digidestined would eventually get to see their digimon partners again. 

They had been in Melbourne for two days now. Entier had gone home to see his parents and his brothers, but the rest of them had stayed in a hotel in the city. Melbourne had been voted the best city in the world to live in, and Taichi had to admit that it was a pretty cool place. The weather was the only thing that annoyed him- how could a beautiful, thirty-four degree Celsius day turn into a rainy day within the space of five seconds? He swore that the rain clouds had been nowhere in sight, and then suddenly, a down-pour had begun. He found it even stranger that the people of Melbourne had actually begun to dance with joy when the rain had started to fall.

"We're in the middle of a drought. Rain is celebrated because of the bush fires too- we have about thirty fires burning out in the bush. The rain will help the firefighters contain the fires and hopefully put them out and save lives. Emma, one of the digidestined here, lives in the bush. The fires were so close to her home last year that she almost had to evacuate her home. That's why rain is such a big deal here," Entier explained as they hopped onto a train on their way to meet the Melbourne destined. The train had been five minutes late, so by the time they were halfway to Ringwood, where the meeting would take place, Entier had received about twenty messages from an impatient member of his team.

"Hmm… now I know why you are so patient," Fedele said, staring in amazement at Entier's phone as it beeped again with another message. Entier smiled and shrugged.

"Well, I do have the digidestined with the crest of Nonsense on my team, so I have to be. Luckily though, Steph is also very patient. She deals with Emma most of the time. They went to school together, and poor Steph was in most of her classes. Then again, sometimes Steph is just as crazy as her, so they make a good pair to have in a destined team. Steph has the crest of Strength," Taichi was looking forward to meeting these people. The Melbourne destined was a team of five, two guys and three girls.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting these girls," Tad and Michael said simultaneously, before giving each other high fives. They were the 'ladies-men' of the group; together they had almost dated every single girl at the university they had attended. They never _intentionally_ hurt anyone, but they had left a lot of broken hearts back in America. Only Michael had to return to them though, so Tad was pretty happy. Entier glared at the two of them.

"I don't want either of you two messing with my team," he warned, and the girls whispered to each other before giggling. Entier narrowed his eyes at them, "What's so funny?" The girls couldn't answer as they were laughing too much. Finally Akili managed to speak.

"Are you sure that it's the _team_ that you want to protect from those guys, or just one person on the team?" Fedele, who was sitting across from her, rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess… you guys did some detective work and managed to find out that Entier here actually has a girlfriend?" he pretended to look shocked, which caused the girls to laugh again. Entier's face was completely red by this stage.

"You know what? Maybe we should just go to Japan early. You don't need to meet my team, as you're obviously reluctant about it. I'm sure that Gennai won't mind," Anna stopped laughing and spoke with a small smile.

"We're sorry Entier, it's just that in the entire four years we have been in America, you've teased us about our relationships and we have never gotten the chance to do the same for you. We're making up for it now. So, which one is it?" he didn't answer, and instead he stood.

"We're here. Please remember that we're here on official business," he pleaded, making sure that he looked especially at Michael and Tad, "Come on, off the train!" They walked across from the train station to a huge shopping centre, which Entier called Eastland.

"Entier, over here!" a girl called from a spot in front of the main doors. The girl was short with short brown hair and brown eyes. She was rather pale, and all of the clothes she wore were brown. Beside her stood a quiet looking girl with shoulder-length black hair which was striped with red. She was wearing a black t-shirt with jeans that were turned up at the bottom, as she was also short. Another girl was with them. She had long brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She too was pale, and she was wearing what looked to be work clothes. A guy was sort of hanging around with them, looking obviously relieved at Entier's arrival. He had dark hair which had blonde and red streaks in it, and his eyes were a strange green colour. He looked very kind and sort of shy.

"Hey guys, this is Emma," Entier gestured to the girl in brown. He introduced the others as well. Steph was the girl with red in her hair, and Melissa was the other girl. The guy of the group was Mitch, "We're the Melbourne destined."

"It's nice to meet you," Steph said politely, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "You're the guys who are studying with Entier, right?"

"Yep! I'm Tad, from Tunisia. It is really nice to meet you," Entier stopped him before he could say anything else and introduced everyone. When he had finished, Steph turned to Tad.

"In Tunisia, you speak French, right?" he nodded, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Oui. Parlez vous francais?" she laughed and soon the two of them were having a conversation in French. Emma had eagerly started a discussion in German with Tanja and Rachel and practically everyone she could start a conversation with. Mitch and Fedele had struck up a conversation in English, and Melissa was joining in almost every conversation. Taichi found it all a little over-whelming in a sense. He had now met everyone else's team of digidestined, and in doing so he had gotten an idea of why they were the people they were. He was a little scared that they would learn the same sort of things about him from the Japanese destined.

"So, which one of you is Entier's girlfriend?" Taichi heard Catherine ask Steph in French. The dark-haired Aussie laughed and pointed at Emma.

"It's hilarious. He keeps on complaining that she's too weird, and she complains that he is too serious, but they are both mad about each other," Taichi hid a smile. He had noticed that Entier tended to talk about Emma more than the others, but he hadn't said anything. Emma turned and narrowed her eyes. She spoke no French, but she had heard her name in connection with Entier's.

"Ooh and Mitch is Steph's boyfriend… well… they're not _really_ dating yet, but they will. It's so cute!" she said in German, causing Steph to frown, as she didn't speak that language. Entier was watching all of this with a smile. It was obvious that he had missed them over the past few years.

It made Taichi miss his friends even more. Over the past few years he had sent weekly e-mails to all of the digidestined- even Sora and Yamato- and he had received e-mails back every week too. He did miss his friends a lot normally, but knowing that he would be seeing them in a week made him miss them even more. He missed Hikari the most- she was his little sister and she was special to him, but to his surprise he missed Sora almost as much. He had tried to forget about her, but he had been forced to admit defeat. He was now prepared to be single for the rest of his life.

He really couldn't wait to see his friends again. He only hoped that he hadn't changed too much.

* * *

To say that Hikari was excited was an understatement. Her brother was finally coming home, and as Takeru had proposed to her the year before, she was getting married a couple of days later. She was very busy organizing everything, but Taichi and Takeru and all of the other digidestined were helping her out. Taichi and his university friends were going to be surprise guests to the wedding. Taichi was of course a part of the ceremony- he was going to give her away as her father couldn't. She also wanted Catherine as one of her bridesmaids- she had become a close friend of hers throughout Taichi's time in America. The others were all going to be guests. 

"What time is their flight coming in again?" Takeru asked as he played with his car keys.

"Two o'clock. They said to meet them at the airport at around quarter to three however, as they will probably be that long getting through customs and grabbing their luggage and stuff. We should leave soon though, just in case," Takeru looked down at his watch, looking really amused.

"Uh… it's eleven in the morning. It takes half an hour to get to the airport, so… we'll get there at eleven thirty. Do you really want to wait at an airport for three hours?" she blushed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I guess I am a little bit too excited, but he's been gone for four years! Do you reckon the others will be surprised when he turns up to the rehearsal tomorrow?" Takeru tossed the keys onto the kitchen bench and joined her on the couch. He took one of her hands to stop her from rearranging one of the cushions.

"Listen, it will be alright. There is going to be no fights during this week or during the wedding and Taichi will be almost the same as he was before. There will be no disasters and we will find out how life in America was for him and he and Sora and Yama will still talk and be friends, okay?" she sighed and nodded, thanking him for knowing what was troubling her. She always felt better whenever he said it would be okay. And at least Yamato and Sora weren't a couple anymore, so that would be easier on her brother. They had split up after dating for fifteen months.

"I know, I know. I just don't want anyone to be unhappy this week. I know… let's play a game of cards or something to keep me occupied otherwise we will be leaving for the airport now. We should leave at two, just to be sure. Does that sound okay?" anything sounded better than a three hour wait at the airport, so they played a game called 'spit' until they had to leave. By the time they finally reached the airport and parked, it was almost time for her brother to arrive. At a quarter to three exactly, Taichi and his friends appeared in the main foyer of the airport.

"Hikari!" Taichi called out before rushing over to engulf her in a hug, "Wow, you've grown so much!" His friends hung back a little with Takeru as the brother and sister were reunited. Hikari was so happy that she felt tears gathering in her eyes.

"If you ever go away for four years ever again I will kill you!" she threatened jokingly, "I had to eat Mum's cooking for three and a half years. I almost died!" He laughed and swung her around before turning to Takeru.

"Takeru, it's good to see you again. I see that my sister hasn't _quite_ driven you insane yet," the blonde grinned and gave Taichi a hug.

"I'm just glad that you're not chasing me out of the airport," he joked, "Otherwise I would be insane right now. Did you enjoy your flight?" Taichi waved his hand dismissively.

"You can't use the word 'enjoy' and 'flight' in the same question Takeru," he said almost seriously, "Especially when Tad and Michael are around. Have you ever heard of the Mile High Club? I think those two may have joined it on the way over here." The girls rolled their eyes and shook their heads, and the two boys mentioned made mock bows.

"Well, we haven't gotten there quite yet. That's for the way back," Tad told them confidently. Michael hit him on the back of the head lightly.

"Hey, speak for yourself Tunisian!" Michael often liked to call Tad that because it annoyed the young African greatly, "But uh… shouldn't we kind of introduce ourselves? I mean… Hikari has heard a couple of our voices, but that's different to seeing us. I'm Michael, the American." The others followed suit and introduced themselves too.

"Well, I'm sure that you guys are all probably tired from the flight, so why don't we get you to your hotel and we can think up what to do from there?" Hikari suggested. Both she and Takeru had driven, so there was just enough space for all of them. Takeru had borrowed his brother's band's van, and that fit seven people, whilst Hikari drove Takeru's car, which seated five.

Taichi was happy to be home. He stared out of the window on the way to the hotel and relaxed a little. He was going to be staying with Hikari whilst the others stayed at the hotel. As he listened to everyone chatting happily, with the occasional comment from himself, he couldn't think of a place where he'd rather be… well, almost. He really had to stop thinking about Sora one day. Once the others were dropped off and they were on their way to Hikari's apartment, he relaxed a little more.

"You're really quiet. Are you alright?" Hikari asked, breaking into his thoughts. He nodded.

"I'm fine. I've just gotten a little quieter over the past few years, that's all. My classes taught me that sometimes it is better to observe than to speak. And it also said that actions are sometimes worth more than words too. Besides, I am a little tired from the flight. Why don't you tell me how the wedding plans are going?" she inwardly sighed at his answer, hating that little change he had made, but she was happy to tell him about the wedding. She couldn't wait for the rehearsal the next day…

* * *

Catherine was the most excited about the wedding out of the 'ambassador' group. She had every right to be- she was a bridesmaid. Taichi and Takeru were in charge of picking Catherine up from the hotel, and by the time they arrived at the church, all of the Japanese destined were there. Takeru went in first, to tell Hikari they had arrived, and then Taichi and Catherine went in. The other ambassadors were going to join them at the hotel restaurant later. 

"Taichi? What are you doing here? We thought that you were only coming for the wedding!" Jyou exclaimed, examining first Taichi and then his glasses to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. Hikari raced up and gave him a giant hug, even though she had seen him that moment.

"Taichi! Why didn't you tell me that you were coming? Catherine, it's great to meet you in person!" Taichi suppressed a laugh at the shocked faces staring at him. Catherine was openly smiling at everyone, looking a very pleased.

"It is great to see you too, Hikari. Taichi has told me a lot about you," she said in distinctly accented Japanese, "I am honoured that you have chosen me to be a bridesmaid." Taichi was very suspicious, but he didn't change his expression.

"What are you doing?" he asked her in French. He knew that she was up to something. She smiled at him innocently.

"Nothing, I am just saying what is on my mind. Now, aren't you going to say hello to your friends?" she replied in French. Taichi rolled his eyes, but did as she had said. They had finally gotten over the shock of seeing him again, and hugs and conversation flowed for a long time.

"So are you Taichi's girlfriend?" Mimi asked Catherine once the general conversation had begun. Catherine stared at her for a second before she burst out laughing. Taichi, who had been talking to Jyou and Yamato, turned to watch her suspiciously.

"Of course I am! I'm young and blonde and French," she lied happily, watching the girl she knew as Sora from the corner of her eye. The red-headed girl didn't look very happy with her answer. She was biting her lip and staring at Taichi as though she couldn't believe he was there.

"How long have you been dating?" Mimi asked in such a way that Catherine knew she was just gathering information for Sora. Taichi heard that and looked confused. She gave him a pointed look before smiling back at Mimi.

"Five years," _that_ would give them something to think about. Mimi looked horrified, and Sora had stiffened too. Hikari was trying her hardest not to laugh. Catherine was just glad that Yamato, Koushiro, Jyou and Takeru were keeping Taichi busy enough so that he couldn't hear what she was saying.

"What? But that's impossible!" Sora exclaimed, drawing the guys' attention to her. Catherine just smiled innocently.

"Oops did I say years? I meant seconds," Hikari laughed as she continued, "I believe we just broke up too, didn't we Taichi?" He was giving her a weird look.

"What are you on about Rupert?" he was genuinely confused. He hadn't heard enough of the conversation.

"Oh… I'm so disappointed that you have forgotten about our relationship already!" she cried out dramatically. He finally understood what was going on and rolled his eyes. She was so immature sometimes.

"In your dreams Rupert. I heard that Tad is available though, why don't I call him for you?" Catherine made a face and everyone continued to chat and laugh as they made it through the rehearsal with no big dramas.

"Okay everyone, I hope that you kept tonight free like I asked because Taichi and Catherine want us to meet some friends of theirs at a hotel nearby, so let's go!" Hikari called out once the rehearsal had finished. There was a general murmur of agreement, so they piled into the cars and within twenty minutes they had arrived at the hotel. Tad and the others were waiting for them in a private room in the restaurant, looking very relaxed. They were secretly excited about meeting the rest of the Japanese destined.

"Okay. Before I introduce everyone I suppose I had better explain a few things," Taichi announced, taking a deep breath, "These guys are friends from university, but they are also all digidestined from countries all around the globe. We were all contacted by Gennai about two weeks before we arrived in America and told that we were invited to take part in a course at a university in America. The course would also make sure that we had a definite job once we finished university. We have all completed that course now, and so we have traveled around, meeting all of the digidestined from the countries we represent. You see, we're all ambassadors for the Digital World- we work for the government to help make the Digital World a part of the real world in a sense. We're like diplomats in some ways, but we represent the Digital World in our respective countries." Several jaws had dropped and Hikari was smiling at her brother proudly.

"You represent the Digital World in Japan?" Koushiro asked finally, rolling his jaw up from the ground. Taichi nodded and folded his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, but university was hard work. We've all had to learn seven different languages- the languages of all of us here- and we had to study politics and history as well," they were all impressed. Taichi then went on to introduce everyone. Anna and Sora recognized each other, as did Mimi and Michael, but none of the others had met before.

"So you guys grew up with Taichi here," Entier said with a slow, mischievous grin, "I'll bet that you guys know all of his secrets that he refused to divulge, even when he was drunk."

"Yeah! Maybe you guys know about-

"If you say anything about her I will kill you," Taichi interrupted Tad quickly in German, finding it the most aggressive of the languages he knew, "She is in the room. I know that I told you that she was a part of… this group."

"I'm sure he forgot. You now how he is, a memory like a sieve unless the information is something about a girl he hasn't seduced yet," Rachel said quickly, using her natural language of English, "Weren't you the one who said that you were trying to get girls to convert to your religion Tad?" She asked this last question in Japanese, as the non-ambassadors were looking puzzled and curious.

"Aw… but I wanted to know too!" Fedele surprisingly said.

"Hikari, will you tell these people," Taichi pointed to his ambassador buddies, "That I have no secrets and that they should stop harassing me about them, please?! During term time they kept on making me drunk to try and get me to spill secrets I didn't have. It is rather annoying when your friends make you drunk the day before a major Russian oral report."

"Hey, we didn't _force_ you to drink that vodka!" Michael protested innocently. Anna sighed and made a face.

"Yeah, you didn't force him to drink it, but you did tell him that is was just lemonade. He did make a point of telling you that it had better not contain alcohol, but you just ignored that part, didn't you?" Tad looked a little guilty, but everyone else just laughed. Some of the Japanese destined began to wish that they had gone to university in America too.

"So what did Taichi get up to over there? Did he create a lot of trouble?" Yamato asked casually, acting the part of best friend very well. Then again, as far as he was concerned, their relationship hadn't changed since they had become best friends.

"Oh, he caused quite a stir actually. At first he was labeled by just about every girl on campus as 'the hot Japanese guy', but then he soon became known as-

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Taichi said quickly, effectively cutting Rachel off before she could continue. He was very much aware of the things he had been called by the girls- two months into his course girls had started talking about him as a two week holiday, because he somehow had managed to dump every girl he went out with after exactly two weeks. By the end of second year, he had been given up as a hopeless case, and they had called him the 'mysterious snowman' for reasons he did not understand. He didn't exactly want that spread around.

"Hey, I was just answering the question. Basically, he was very popular with most of the girls on campus until they realized that he was extremely picky about girlfriends and then most of them gave up and just dated Tad and Michael instead. I personally think that they made huge mistakes doing that, as Tad and Michael had a worse reputation than Taichi, but hey… these two are fast-talkers," she nudged the two boys in the ribs, but they didn't react. They were busy have a quick and quiet discussion in French and they hadn't been paying attention. Everyone continued to talk, sharing memories that they had about Taichi for a while, before turning to other matters.

"Hey, have any of you Japanese ever played the game 'I never'?" Tad finally asked after everyone had eaten dinner. He and Michael had been having a lot of almost-serious discussions in French over the past couple of hours, and Taichi was highly suspicious of them. Still, everyone seemed interested in the game, so he couldn't stop them from doing whatever it was they were up to. He would have to keep his eye on them.

"No, I've never heard of it. What kind of game is it exactly?" Koushiro asked, interesting in learning about anything, even a game. Tad and Michael grinned evilly, and all of the ambassadors shuddered. They knew that the two pranksters had something planned alright, but they had no idea what it was.

"Alright, well, what happens is that someone starts by saying something like "I've never owned a cat" or something like that, and everyone who has owned a cat, or done whatever it is the speaker says they haven't done, has to take a drink of something. It's usually an alcoholic drink, but as some of you are driving, I'd suggest that only the non-drivers have alcohol and the rest have fruit juice or something. Do you want to play? It's a great way of getting to know new people," Michael explained. Taichi remembered this game, vaguely. He knew that he had gotten very drunk, and that he had probably spilled some of his secrets, but he couldn't remember exactly what he had said. That worried him.

"Sure, it sounds like fun. Who's going to start?" it was decided that Tad would start, considering that he had suggested the game. They got some drinks- alcohol for the non-drivers and orange juice for the others, and started.

"Alright… I've never been referred to as a 'two week holiday'," Taichi gave him an evil glare before taking a drink.

"That is so not fair and you know it. I'll get you back for that," Yamato, Takeru and Ken were trying their best not to laugh, and Mimi and Miyako were giving him strange looks. Taichi tried to rectify the situation, "And really, we don't know why they called me that." Catherine shook her head to indicate that they really did know, and that Taichi was just trying to make it sound good. Michael took his turn before anyone else could protest.

"I have never been in Japan for more than four days," he said generally. He was quite pleased about The Plan, but it wouldn't work if Taichi caught on too quickly. The Japanese destined all seemed quite happy to drink. As a whole they seemed quite happy about playing the game- it seemed that they were hoping to hear about what their leader had been up to in a foreign country. Well, he and Tad planned to let them know a little bit about it… and to attack the girl that they knew had hurt him. Michael winked at Entier, whose turn it was. Entier looked thoughtful, as though he had figured out what they were doing and he was deciding whether to participate in it or not.

"I have never been so drunk that I talked to a lamp post for an hour," Taichi sighed before drinking again. Michael was really happy. Entier was on their side- that meant that he approved of their actions, and as he was the destined of Integrity… it was a good sign.

The game continued on, and everyone was having fun. Taichi was still throwing suspicious looks over at the two of them. Unfortunately, the only downside to the game had been that Taichi had decided that he wasn't going to drink alcohol- instead he told Takeru that he would drive Hikari and him home, so the two youngsters were the ones consuming alcohol. Tad only hoped that The Plan would still work this way. After about ten rounds, he caught Michael's eye and they both nodded. It was Tad's turn, so Taichi was watching them very carefully. He saw the nod and rolled his eyes, knowing that they were about to do something.

"Hehe… this one will get you Michael. I have never cheated on anyone I've ever dated," it was true- he hadn't. He didn't like hurting people, and that was one thing that would definitely hurt someone. Michael had done it once, but he had learnt never to do it again. He hadn't enjoyed it at all, and Taichi and Entier had come down on him like a ton of bricks about it. They had forced him to apologise to the girls in person, as well as do some other humiliating things, such as put up a note on the notice boards to let everyone know when he was dating someone. He quickly took a drink and looked very apologetic.

"Damn you Tad… I made a mistake about that and I'm sorry. Isn't that enough?" this had all been planned out of course. He snuck a look at the girl who had cheated on Taichi. She hadn't touched her drink yet. He frowned, but he couldn't say anything.

"I know, but really, it isn't enough and you know it. You're just lucky that those girls were just playing around with you anyway," Tad was watching Taichi carefully. Taichi had been one of the best at the body language classes. He could lie just as well as he could breathe. He was staring at them with one eyebrow raised, as though bored with the conversation. Damn. He wasn't going to say anything. Sora still hadn't drunk. The Plan was going down. Luckily, they got help from Hikari and Takeru.

"Hey Sora… you didn't drink to that last one," Hikari said, looking confused. She had had quite a few drinks by this time, and all promises about not saying anything had been forgotten. Takeru nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you've cheated on someone, haven't you?" There was a strange silence as everyone turned to stare at the two youngsters.

"Hikari… Takeru… I think you guys have drunk a little bit too much," Jyou told them firmly, pushing up his glasses pointedly. Sora didn't say anything; she just played idly with her glass. She didn't know what to do. If she drank, then everyone would hate her, but if she didn't, she would be lying. She looked at Taichi. He was watching her as though he wasn't interested in the outcome. Did that mean that he knew, or that he didn't know? Really, he was the only one that mattered.

"Maybe I should have told Hikari she was driving," Taichi said before glaring at Tad and Michael, "She is a little drunk I think."

"Taichi, I really wish you hadn't paid attention in class," to say Catherine was frustrated would have been an understatement, "You really took this 'people should not show emotions' thing a bit too literally I think."

"Uh… are we missing something here?" Daisuke asked, "Because I'm really confused." There were several murmurs of agreement.

"Sometimes it is better to pretend something never happened, but in the end, we have to come to acknowledge it to accept what comes after," Akili said mystically, her dark eyes settling on Taichi. Hikari got sick of the beating around the bush and decided to just tell everyone what was going on.

"You see," she started out, "My brother broke up with Sora because she cheated on him with Yamato!" There was a shocked silence as everyone turned to look between Taichi, Sora and Yamato. Taichi shrugged and pretended to be unconcerned. He managed to pull it off quite well.

"Yeah, that's about it," he said conversationally, "But why does everyone care about it so much? Everything turned out for the best." He had to say that. He had to prove to himself that he didn't need her, because if he didn't… he would want to go back, and he would be hurt again. The walls he had created to become the 'mysterious snowman' were necessary. He couldn't knock them down, especially not for her.

"You knew about that?" Sora whispered. Now that she knew why, it hurt more. She had only herself to blame. Now she knew why he had put such a distance between her and him. He had been hurt. She had hurt him really badly. In the end, she thought that that was the worst thing about it all. Yamato was also feeling horrible. He had betrayed his best friend. He had been selfish, and as a result he had hurt one of those who had been closest to him. It was a miracle that Taichi had still written and kept in contact with him.

"Yes. I actually knew for a while before we broke up, but it was kind of a bad time to do anything about it because my dad died and so yeah… But I knew about it. Now I should probably get Hikari home before she passes out and the same goes for Takeru," he told her, before turning to Tad and Michael and switching languages, "I will think up a suitable punishment for you overnight and I will tell you about it tomorrow. I can't remember telling you guys about that, but thank you for bringing it up and making me feel so much better." He left quickly after that, with Hikari and Takeru swaying behind him. By the time he got them home, they were asleep. He made sure that they got to bed alright before he collapsed onto the couch.

For the past four years he had tried so hard to repress the memories that he had shared with Sora that to be reminded of her betrayal hurt. In fact, everything to do with Sora hurt him, but just remembering that day made his heart turn into a voodoo doll again. He had believed that she loved him, and that was the hardest thing to swallow. It was that which had made him pay very close attention in body language classes. He needed to be able to find out if someone was lying to him. He couldn't go through something like that again.

When he had dated at university, he had always made sure that he broke-up with the girls before they got too close. He had never felt a connection like he had with Sora, but he had cared deeply for some of the girls he had dated, but he had cut them off quickly, knowing that it wouldn't last.

He'd always had his excuses for himself, but he had never told the girls why. He supposed that it was because he couldn't trust them enough to tell them. He doubted that they would have understood anyway. He had always made sure to date girls who were nothing like Sora, so he knew that none of them had really understood him. Now, as he sat and thought about it properly for the first time in what seemed like forever, he didn't understand himself. Tears appeared in his eyes for the first time since that night his dad had died, and he couldn't stop them from falling. He was a mess, and it had taken him this long to figure it out. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Sora could feel all of their eyes on her once Taichi had left, but she couldn't move. She knew that they were going to make her explain, but she didn't know how to. 

"You know… we have traveled around the world and met everyone's digidestined team. Every time we have found that in some ways, the team has shaped the leader. Take Entier for example. He has a team that borders on insane, and so to balance it, he is patient and incredibly serious. Rachel's team is barely there for the Digital World, so Rachel is always there. Tad's team is serious beyond a joke and wrapped up in their own lives, so Tad is out-going and he jokes a lot. It's the same here, I think," Fedele said thoughtfully, "You all seem quick to express anger and negative opinions, so Taichi refuses to. It all suggests that leaders tend to balance out the team; they see the good and the bad qualities of those they work with and strive to eradicate the bad ones. But problems can occur when you think about what a good quality is and what a bad one is."

Sora kind of thought that she knew what he meant. When they had first gone to the Digital World, Taichi had been criticized for getting angry too easily. He had resorted to punching Yamato just because the blonde hadn't agreed with him. Over time, he had tried to stop that instinctive behaviour, until he and Yamato had never even argued. He had been trying to eradicate a bad trait.

"That could very well be correct," Koushiro replied a little uneasily, "We did criticize Taichi for being too impatient and violent back when we first adventured in the Digital World. He has learnt a lot of self-control since then." He seemed to be avoiding looking at Sora and Yamato, as his eyes moved around the room quickly.

"But wait… he said that everything turned out for the best and he was happy with things the way they are. He seemed to genuinely mean it, so why should we keep on bringing it up?" Jyou poked Mimi to get her to stop staring at Sora in shock.

"Taichi would say that he was absolutely fine if someone had doused him with petrol and set him on fire," Anna dismissed the comment quickly, "Have you ever heard him admit that he wasn't fine?" There were mutters of no, so she continued, "You guys haven't been around him much, so you wouldn't notice, but we have lived with him for the past few years and he is one weird guy. He is fine most of the time, but if we happen to say the wrong thing, he distances himself from us for a while. He pretends that he hasn't, and to a normal observer nothing would have changed, but it definitely has. It took us quite a bit of detective work to find out why too, but we did eventually, and now you guys know too." She sent a disapproving look at Sora, who wished that she could bury herself in a hole for the rest of her life. She deserved it.

"Oh, and for the record, Taichi did not tell us about what happened willingly. He was drunk when he told us. We were playing truth or dare, and Tad just asked him about his last girlfriend," Tanja looked half-asleep in her seat, but in fact she was alert and ready to gather information, "And I doubt that the timing of everything helped. He actually found out about it all on the day his father died, so he had already been feeling awful." Sora squirmed in her seat a little. She hoped that dying wasn't this painful, because she didn't want to have to go through this kind of pain twice.

"I must tell you that I really dislike you," Catherine said to her bluntly, "But unfortunately for Taichi, he cannot, although he has tried very hard. I apologise for suggesting that Taichi had cheated on you before, but I wanted to make you think, I mean _really_ think about all of this. You're going to have to be the one to sort all of this out," It was a frightening suggestion to Sora, but she knew that Catherine was right. She was going to have to talk to Taichi and try to get him to understand her point of view. That was if she could understand her own reasons behind her actions.

"I know," she said quietly, before standing to leave, "I need to… there are some things that I need to sort out first. I'm sorry for… well, everything." She left quickly, trying to avoid the various critical looks she was receiving. She had a lot to think about, and all of it had to do with Taichi. It was going to take a while

After Sora had gone, there was an uncomfortable silence. Yamato excused himself as well, but the silence continued for another few minutes.

"Well guys that worked out well," Entier said sarcastically, "Next time just throw a brick at the poor guy's head." He smacked Michael over the back of his head lightly. The American scowled.

"You could've stopped us if you wanted to, _mate_, but you chose to continue with the Plan. Besides, he needs to get all of that out of his system before he explodes," he replied icily. Rachel sighed.

"As much as I hate to admit it, and I really, really do, Michael does have a bit of a point, 'Tier," she had a habit of shortening everyone's name when she could, especially when she was troubled about something else, "But I don't know if everything will turn out for the best this way. I think that Sora needs to come up with something really good to get out of this one." Miyako, who had been both shocked and upset about what her fellow digidestined of Love had done, smiled confidently.

"Sora could probably persuade Taichi to give her the world, even if she had destroyed everything he held dear. Don't worry; everything will work out for the best, although with her actions, I don't know if it is good enough. She's the digidestined of Love- she shouldn't do things like that!" she had started off being positive, but to say that she approved of Sora's actions would be like saying that the Sun rose at night.

"I think that she has punished herself in a way," Anna said thoughtfully, playing with her drink, "I mean… if she had told him the truth straight away and done everything properly, neither of them would have been unhappy and they would have moved on- probably not with each other, but they would have finished their relationship on a proper note. By not saying anything, it has caused them both to be sad, and I think that Taichi's unhappiness has hurt her more than anything else in the world probably could have. Now that they have faced the good and bad times, and found that they still hold the same feelings, it should have a happy ending, I think." Catherine shrugged ad downed her drink in one go.

"Well, whatever the outcome, we have played our part, so, who wants to keep playing?"

* * *

It was almost one in the morning when there was a knock on the door. Taichi was still on the couch, but his tears had dried. He still felt horrible, but he was thankful that his tear ducts had gone on strike. He hated crying. 

As he walked to the door to open it, he felt stupid. It was one a.m. No one he knew would be up at this time, so it was highly likely that he was going to open the door to find some trained thief or attacker of some sort. For some reason that he didn't analyze, those thoughts didn't bother him. He opened the door without a second thought, and as soon as he saw who was standing there, he wished that he had listened to his cautious side. After all, the girl standing in the doorway was a thief- but she stole hearts, not objects.

"Err… hi Sora. What are you doing here at… one in the morning?" he tried to pretend that he had been sleeping before she had knocked, but she didn't look fooled. Perhaps it was because he was still wearing his clothes, or that he didn't sound the least bit sleepy.

"I need to talk to you," she moved so that she was inside the apartment, to make sure that he couldn't lock her out. She didn't need to bother. He sighed and began leading the way to the living room, motioning for her to close the door. She did as he had asked and followed him into a room that was very neat and tidy. Hikari and Takeru were both neat freaks, so it wasn't surprising to find not a hair out of place in their apartment. Taichi took a seat in the armchair, and gestured for her to sit on the couch. He was determined to keep his distance it seemed.

"So what is so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" he asked her when they had both settled into their seats. She fidgeted for a moment, before she looked up and made sure she made eye-contact with him.

"I'm sorry for what I did four years ago. I know that I hurt you and I really am sorry for that. But I know that an apology is not good enough. I was stupid and made a huge mistake and it cost me practically everything. But that wasn't the worst part about the whole thing. The worst thing about this whole thing is that I hurt you. You can pretend that I didn't, but I can see that I did. I have no excuses for that and there is nothing I can say that will ever take that pain back. I wish that I could. I wish that you had broken it off with me because you truly had just fallen out of love with me. But unfortunately, fate has a way of denying everyone of what they want."

He listened with no expression on his face, but inside he was fighting a battle with his emotions. She sounded so sincere and so upset that a part of him wanted to forget about everything that had happened, forgive her and start off where they had left off. But that part was in the minority, and it had a very strong opponent in the part of him that was supposed to protect his heart. How could he forgive her and forget about what she had done, when she could do the same thing in the future?

"So why did you do it? You claim that hurting me is the worst thing you've ever done, but you did it anyway. Why should I believe you?" she knew that his expressionless front was just make-believe. She could see the confusion, hurt and fear he was trying to hide. His eyes gave everything away.

"We were together for four and a half years. You were my first boyfriend and well… I guess that I started to get scared. I want you to know that I was never in love with Yama… but he was there at the time and I was just scared about how much I loved you. You were all I knew, and I guess that I was so scared that something could happen to us that would change everything, that I needed to make sure I could find the same kind of… security and happiness if something did happen. I don't know why I chose to do what I did, but I really never meant to hurt you. However, I will not lie and say that I didn't think that it was wrong at the time. I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I do love you, more than anything," her voice shook as her emotions began to overrun. Tears appeared in her eyes and she blinked furiously, trying to be strong. She couldn't cry in front of him.

He looked torn. He knew, without a doubt, that she was being sincere. She believed every word she had said. Even if he hadn't taken body language courses, he would have been able to see that. But even in that there was a problem. She sincerely loved him. Those words made his heart soar, and all memories of that voodoo-doll feeling had vanished according to his heart. But the memories still existed in his mind, and he didn't think that he would be able to forget anytime soon.

"If you knew it was wrong and you didn't want to hurt me… why didn't you just tell me that you were scared? If you love me like you say, you could have told me that," he was going to need a headache tablet soon if this went on for much longer. The two sides of his personality were clashing at a rather loud volume.

"Because I was scared that you felt the same way and that you would take it to mean that I didn't love you anymore and… I was really confused. You were at soccer practice so much that sometimes it felt that you were barely here. I think… I think that I tried to convince myself that I couldn't have told you even if I had the courage to do so, because you didn't have the time. It was a stupid excuse, but… I couldn't help it," for the first time since he had found out about her cheating, he realized that she wasn't the only one a fault. He had been busy all of the time, and he had never stopped to consider how she was feeling. It didn't make everything all better right away, but his heart was beginning to get a little louder.

"I'm sorry that I was busy. I should have made more time for you. But that still doesn't really excuse what you have done. What do you want from me?" that last question surprised even him. He definitely hadn't meant to sound so… so desperate and heart-broken. His defenses were crumbling, and he had no idea how to reinforce them. How could she still do this to him after all of the years that had passed? She bowed her head, and he could see her trying hard to stop her shoulders from shaking. He had to stop himself from going over and holding her. He had to keep his distance.

"I don't really want anything from you, except for you to be happy, I guess. I want you to accept what has happened and I wish that we could go back to what we had, but that is your decision. I love you very much, but I will never talk to you again if that is what you want. I'll move to another country so that you never have to see me if that's what you want. I know that it is hard to do so after what I've done but please, please trust me. I will never, ever hurt you in that way again," she stared into his eyes, pleading with him to see her point of view. After a few seconds he had to look away. He couldn't do this, he wasn't strong enough. Everything was too confusing.

"What I need is time to think. It's late and I've had a weird enough day as it is. I can't promise you a decision anytime soon I'm afraid. Are you sure that you want to wait for this?" she felt as though it was a mini challenge. She didn't hesitate.

"I'll wait for your decision until time ends and the universe ceases to be, which means that I will wait for you for forever. Have a good night. I will see you at the wedding," once she had gone, he got ready for bed, but he knew it was futile. There was no way he would be able to get to sleep after that visit. He just wished that he knew what he was supposed to do.

* * *

"Eugh, Taichi! Why didn't you warn me not to drink so much?" Hikari complained as she shuffled into the kitchen. He hadn't slept all the night before, and now he was staring at the cereal box as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. Hikari frowned as she saw him, and waved a hand in front of his eyes. He jumped and knocked the box onto the floor, scattering the little bubble-like cereal pieces everywhere. 

"Whoa, warn me before you do that, please!" he sputtered when he found his voice. She raised an eyebrow before turning to make some tea.

"I thought that you knew I was here. I did ask you a question you know. Why did you let me drink so much last night? I thought that you had a rule about that sort of thing, you know, the whole- 'she's only twenty and so she can't do anything that could possibly harm her' sort of thing," he grunted and began shoveling the cereal up off the floor.

"Exactly- you're twenty now. That's over the legal drinking age, so you can drink as much as you like. I would appreciate it however, if you never get drunk when you know something that I've told you not to tell anyone," she went white at this.

"I didn't say anything… did I?" she sounded so upset that he almost lied. He knew that she would hear the truth sometime from the other destined, so he told her what had happened, leaving out the chat he had had with Sora later on, "Oh my gosh… I'm so sorry Taichi; I didn't mean to say it!" He seemed to have a lot of people saying sorry to him recently, and he didn't like it. In this case he could forgive his sister because he knew she was truly a good person, and she hadn't meant to say anything. A little voice in the back of his head asked him that Sora was a good person, and she hadn't really meant to hurt him, so why couldn't he forgive her? He told the voice to shove off.

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean it. You're a good sister; I can't believe that you would have done it on purpose. Besides, it was Tad and Michael who basically set the whole thing up anyway," he sighed and chucked the cereal he had gathered into the bin before running his hands through his hair. He was really tired.

"Are you alright? You look like you haven't slept," she commented as she handed him some tea. He pasted on a smile.

"I'll live. It's just… Sora came and talked to me last night and now I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" it was hard to confess it, but he knew that she wouldn't judge him. She sipped her tea quietly for a few minutes before she said anything.

"I hated her at first, you know," her tone told him that she was trying to say something profound, so he didn't snap at her, "But I've found that I can't hate her anymore. I tell myself that I do, but I can't. She's a good person, and I believe that good people deserve a second chance. You know that saying, forgive and forget?" He knew it all right. His head was hurting.

"I want to do that, I really do but… what if it happens again?"

"If we all dwelt on what-ifs then courage, love and all other good things would cease to exist," she said softly. He knew that she was right; she always was. Sometimes it amazed him that she didn't get Akili's crest of Wisdom instead of that of Light.

"I have to go," he told her, slowly getting to his feet, "I don't know what this means exactly, but I guess everyone deserves a second chance. She has waited four years for it, so I guess it's important to her." She smiled and gave him a hug.

"Good luck. I knew that you would have it in you to do the right thing," she whispered in his ear before letting him go.

"Thanks. I'm going to need that luck I think. I may have forgiven her, but it's a two-way process. Tell Takeru that the headache tablets are on the bench- I have a feeling that you handle alcohol better than he does, and that's saying something. I'll see you this afternoon and I promise I will help you out with the rest of the plans for tomorrow," she was so happy about her brother that she had almost forgotten that she was getting married the next day. If everything turned out to plan, this would be one of the best weeks of her life.

"Well, hurry up then! I have lots of things I need you to do," she joked. He just stuck his tongue out at her and left. He then had to return a few minutes later, to check that Sora hadn't moved, before he left again. He only hoped that he didn't stuff this up.

* * *

Sora hadn't slept well. Her heart was feeling lighter now that she had told him the whole truth, but his last words repeated over and over in her head. He was going to consider it. He secretly did want her back, but he needed to process it all. It made her so excited that sleep had eluded her. She was still in her pajamas when a knock on the door almost made her jump out of her skin. 

"Taichi!" she had to admit that she was surprised to see him there so soon. She hadn't expected to hear from him for days, if not weeks. She began to get nervous. Was it a good sign that he was here so early.

"Hi. I want to talk to you, about what we talked about last night," she led the way into the living room, even though she knew that he knew the way. She hadn't moved from their old apartment, and as Taichi entered the room, he was happy to see that the three pictures on the coffee table had not changed.

"I still love those pictures," she said, following his gaze, "They symbolize everything that you mean to me. I mean, we're friends, part of a group, and, well, I love you very much, and when the Sun finally sets, we're still together." He had never thought about it that way before. Suddenly, all of the years apart didn't seem to matter. Yes, they had been bad years, but they could soon be forgotten with time.

"I think that the pictures suit us too. Forever is a long time, and I don't want you to wait alone. If you don't mind, I'll wait with you," it was a funny way of saying it, but he couldn't just be like every guy in those romantic movies and blurt out 'I love you too', now could he? No, he had to go for the more exciting cliché.

"What do you mean by that?" she held her breath as she waited for his answer.

"I forgive you and I suppose that I will forget about it in time. But don't ever do something like that again, okay?" she nodded and tentatively reached for his hand, as though to check that he was real. He laughed and pulled her into a hug.

It had taken a long time, but he had finally found home again. And with Hikari's wedding and the rest of his life with Sora to look forward to, he actually wanted to thank Tad and Michael for forcing the truth out.

The End

Litanya: Well Steph, I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading this everybody, and if you feel like making a comment, please feel free to review. I really disapprove of people who cheat on their partners by the way, but as it says in the fic, everyone deserves a second chance :D. Have a good night/day/afternoon etc!


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